


The Nerd and The Cheerleader

by Meganrrothstein



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-25 16:54:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 56,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30092199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meganrrothstein/pseuds/Meganrrothstein
Summary: Ruby Rose was never a somebody. She had always just been the nerd in everyone's class who no one noticed was there. It came with perks of course, like no one noticing if she was listening to music or staring at the beauty that is Weiss Schnee.All is perfect in her little bubble of a world. All until she is paired up for a project with the same girl she had been fawning over since middle school. Not prepared for the storm that she spurs up in her life, Ruby struggles to keep her feelings a secret, maintain her little world, and somehow get the school's most wanted girl to notice her as something more than a child.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Coco Adel/Velvet Scarlatina, Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 205
Kudos: 221





	1. Meetings Without Greetings

Ruby bopped her head along to her music. She had her headphones on since it was before first period and school hadn't officially started. Having geometry with Oobleck first thing in the morning wasn't really something she enjoyed, especially not with the trouble makers like Neptune, Sun, and Coco there with her. While they didn't bother her on purpose, they did have a way of getting on her nerves every morning. 

"I heard the ice queen is in a bad mood today dude. I don't think you should try pushing your luck," Ruby overheard Sun say as she slid her headphones off as class started. She didn't mean to eavesdrop. She sat in the seat in the back corner of the room furthest from the door and they just happened to sit next to her.

Normally she would avoid having anything to do with them, but she couldn't help but perk up when Weiss was mention. They didn't know each other or rather, Weiss didn't know Ruby existed. How could she? Weiss was captain of the Beacon cheerleading team and most sought after girl in the whole school. There was no way she had the time to spare a glance in Ruby's direction, much less know things about her.

"I know I know, but I really think if I keep trying she'll say yes eventually," Neptune said as he leaned back in his chair. The spot where Coco usually sat, separating Ruby from him, was currently vacant as the fashionista wasn't in class. 

"Well you know what they say. If you ask a nine hundred, ninety nine thousand, nine hundred ninety nine times and she says no, she's really just waiting for the millionth time you ask to say yes," Sun said with a roll of his eyes. 

Part of Ruby wished they would stop talking about the cheerleader that way, but knew better than to speak up. She sighed as she grabbed her textbook out of her bag and took out her homework from the night before. As she flipped to the page that contained the day's lesson, Coco walked in the room, cup of coffee in hand. 

"What did I miss?" she asked as she plopped into her seat between Ruby and Neptune.

"Nothing," Sun said as he leaned on his desk so he could see her. "Neptune is just being persistent as always." Coco nodded as she took a long sip from her cup. 

"She can't say no forever," Neptune insisted as he crossed his arms. As much as he was a dumb jock, he did have a point. Ruby reasoned with herself that eventually Weiss would fall for his charm or at least grow tired of him coming onto her and just agree to go out with him at least once.

Coco scoffed as she put her cup down and reached in her bag. "I wouldn't be so sure," Ruby heard her mutter. "Shit. I forgot about the homework. Did either of you do it?" she asked as she held up a blank worksheet. Both boys shook their heads and Coco rolled her eyes.

Ruby turned her attention away from them and back to her text book so it wouldn't seem like she had been listening in on their conversation. A tap on her desk caught her attention and Ruby turned to see Coco staring at her.

"Did you do the homework?" she asked. Ruby nodded, her eyes wide like an owl. "Can I see it?" Ruby nodded again and handed her the paper. She and Coco weren't exactly strangers, but they weren't friends either. She had been trying for months to get Velvet to go on a date with her and Ruby's friend sometimes confided in her about her feelings for her. As far as Ruby knew, both Velvet and Coco liked each other, but Velvet was too shy to go out with her. 

"Thanks Red," Coco said as she handed the homework back to her. Ruby just nodded at her again with a small smile. "Do you think you could tell Velvet she looks beautiful today for me?" 

Ruby nodded and said, "Yeah," in a small voice, not liking the attention Coco was putting on her as she noticed Neptune and Sun staring at her. No one had a chance to say anything else as Professor Oobleck rushed by to collect homework as he started the lesson for the day. Ruby sighed in relief and turned to watch the clock tick its way closer to the end of the day.

As Ruby was forced to listen to Cardin attempt to read in Spanish, part of her wished she had switched to French. She knew Weiss took French. It would have been a class they could have shared together. Granted, they already shared two classes together, but Ruby always wanted to see more of the white-haired girl. 

Ruby didn't know who made her schedule for that year, but she really wanted to know why they had it out for her. Geometry first period, Spanish second, history third, English fourth, a break for lunch, art which she hadn't even signed up for fifth, biology sixth, gym seventh, and lastly a study at the end of the day. Part of her liked how she had the most tedious classes first so she wouldn't have to deal with them later on in the day, but the other part of her hated all of her classes.

Don't get her wrong, Ruby loved school, just not always the teachers. Or classmates. Or work. She got good grades easy enough, being diligent and naturally smart a nice advantage to have when you get bumped up two grades in middle school. 

Ruby glanced across the room and out the door, peering into the French classroom that was just across the hall. She knew both Blake and Weiss were in that class, having had an awkward conversation with the former about classes one day as she had come over with Yang one night and was forced to socialize with her. From where she sat, she could see Weiss's bag on the floor by her desk, open so if she needed to take anything out, she wouldn't have a problem. 

"Muy bien senor Winchester," the teacher said as she gave him a round of applause. Ruby rolled her eyes at the fake praise, but clapped along anyway knowing that the teacher wouldn't move on until the class recognized how hard each student worked. 

'Only ten more minutes,' she said to herself in her head as she turned her gaze back to the door. She happened to catch both Blake and Weiss walking out of the French room with papers in hand. Ruby watched Weiss in awe until she escaped from her view. The girl was just so beautiful. Ruby felt blessed every time she saw her.

She kept her eyes peeled for the girls as class went by, only taking her attention off the doorway when the teacher called on her. "Senora Rose, leer una pagina por la clase por favor." Ruby groaned internally, but complied and picked up where they had left off in the book the teacher was making them read. 

When she finished reading, the teacher and class clapped for her. She blushed at the attention and sunk her head on her desk to avoid looking at people. She turned to look at the door and saw Weiss and Blake walk by with their heads turned to the classroom, obviously drawn by the sound of clapping.

Ruby blushed even harder as Blake noticed her and waved at her with a small smile. She blushed the hardest when Weiss followed Blake's gaze and looked at her. She copied Blake and sent her a small wave with an uneasy smile as they made their way into their classroom. 

Ruby felt as if her heart would beat out of her chest. Weiss, the Weiss Schnee, just noticed her. And waved at her with a smile. Ruby felt on top of the world. A giddy grin spread over her face as the bell rang and she picked up her bags, for the first time ever, excited for history.

Her excitement from the previous class quickly wore off as Professor Port went off on a tangent about something related to something they were supposed to be learning about. Ruby had given up on taking any notes after five minutes passed on the clock and took out her sketchbook instead. It was filled with mostly designs for engines and robot parts, but for now she needed it to start the beginnings of her art project.

The assignment was to draw something that had to do with flowers and sadness. She knew Oscar was going to do something with funerals since she had asked him for ideas when they were told about the project. Tapping her pencil on the desk, Ruby thought of ideas for a minute. Flashing white caught her attention and she looked up to see Weiss walk into the room. She paid no attention to anyone in the classroom as she walked up to Professor Port.

Ruby tried her best to hear what the girl said, but the noise of the classroom and quietness of her voice prevented her from doing so. She and Professor Port walked over to his desk. Ruby couldn't help but stare at the girl as she stood patiently waiting for the teacher to do whatever she had asked. She didn't notice her pencil moving until she looked down when Weiss glanced in the classes direction. Her hand had drawn a picture of the girl's face, from her perfect lips to her scar around her eye.

Quickly, she drew some flowers on top of her picture so no one could see what she had truly drawn. She crossed her arms over her book and laid her head down on the table. Ruby kept her head down until she heard Weiss's heels walk out of the room. When she finally picked her head back up, she saw the way the flowers covered the beautiful face she had drawn and sighed. She had been crushing on Weiss since she was in sixth grade, when she was moved up two years to be with Yang. They didn't have any classes together at the time, but Ruby would see her in the lunch room or hallway from time to time and be stunned by her presence.

Time did very little to change that. Ruby still stared at her in class or during lunch. She still looked for her in the hallways and in the lunchroom. It's not like she was obsessed with Weiss or anything, she just had a really really big crush on her. The girl was the definition of perfect. She had the best grades in the school, her friends were either smart, pretty, rich, or all three of those things, she was the captain of the cheerleading team, had the school's quarterback chasing after her, and everyone respected her. Just being around her was a gift most people never received because she valued her time and reputation too much to let some nobody jeopardize that. 

Ruby sighed. She was never going to be able to talk to Weiss, much less get a chance to make her fall for her.

Looking back at her drawing, she had an idea for her project.

"Hanahaki Disease?" Penny asked her when Ruby showed her the drawing she had come up with in the remainder of history class. She had redrawn the person to resemble herself more than Weiss and had rose petals stuck on her lips and cheeks. 

Taking the sketch back from her, Ruby nodded. They were sitting in the back of English class together, directly in front of the board. While Ruby knew Penny would have preferred sitting up in the front, her friend was nice enough to sit in the back with her. "It's a disease where a person coughs up flowers because the person they love doesn't love them back. They either die because they can't cough up to flowers or the flowers just go away because the person they love, loves them back," Ruby explained as she exchanged her sketchbook for her copy of Shakespeare. 

"That sounds like a terrible way to die," Penny said. Her eyes drifted to Weiss who was sitting in the very front of the room. "Will that happen to you?" she asked as she looked back at Ruby.

Ruby in turn blushed and said, "No! I don't love, I don't have that strong feelings for her. And besides, it's not a real disease." If it was she would have been suffering from it. She just wasn't willing to admit it.

"Ohhh," Penny drew out the sound as she nodded her head, everything clicking in her mind. "I see."

"Miss Polendina, Miss Rose, I presume you don't happen to be talking about Shakespeare's Hamlet back there," Professor Goodwitch said to gain their attention. Both girls quieted and looked at the desk in sync as Goodwitch began the class. 

Ruby kept her head down a bit longer than necessary, not wanting to look up to see the class staring at her. Everyone already thought she was weird for being a junior at fifteen. When she did finally look up, she saw Weiss's ponytail swish as if she had just rushed to turn her head. 'Was she looking at me?' Ruby wondered, her heart picking up its pace. She watched as the white-haired girl's hand came up and grabbed her ponytail, slowly running her hand down its length. Her hand slipped off the bottom and her hair swished like it had when Ruby looked up. 'Oh,' she thought, pouting.

Her disappointment only increased as Goodwitch assigned the class an essay that was due at the end of the week. Ruby audibly groaned as she laid her head in her arms. She felt Penny rub her back and smiled at her meekly. Work from all her classes was starting to pile up and it wasn't even the second half of the day yet. 

Trying to cheer herself up, Ruby allowed herself to stare at Weiss until the end of class. She watched the girl write fluidly on her paper what was probably the outline for her essay. Her pace was rapid, her pen barely stopping to come off the paper. Ruby focused on the way her eyes skimmed the paper after she wrote a few sentences. She watched the way her lips pursed as something wasn't exactly how she wanted it and went back to fix her mistake. 

"Ruby?" Penny's questioning voice brought her out of her world of Weiss. "Are you going to come up with your research question? It's due at the end of the period." Ruby looked from Penny to the empty paper in front of her to the clock on the wall that told her she only had five minutes left until class ended to start.

"Augh, why didn't you tell me sooner?" she asked as she picked up her pencil and started to fill out the worksheet.

Penny stood to hand in her paper. "I tried. You were too busy staring to hear me," she said with a shrug as she walked away. Ruby groaned and rushed her way through the paper, not bothering to write neatly. She managed to hand in her paper just before the bell rang. She smiled sheepishly at Goodwitch as she walked out of the classroom all alone. Penny waited for her outside and together they walked to lunch. Weiss was already long gone.

"... and the flowers. They were so beautiful. I can't wait until art so I can print my pictures and use them for our project," Velvet told Ruby with a smile as they sat at their lunch table together. They were kind of the loners of the school, with no friends other than each other, but Ruby liked it that way. It meant no drama. Penny and Jaune were already sitting at the table, having brought their lunches from home. 

"I'm sure whatever you do will look amazing," Ruby said as she dipped a French fry in ketchup. 

She heard Yang's voice say, "Hey kitty," and turned to see her sister flirting with Blake at her table. She smirked at the sight. Yang had it bad for Blake ever since their freshman year when Blake had ditched her glasses for contacts and decided to show off her body rather than hide it with baggy clothes. She wasn't a douche who only cared about how a girl looked, but it's what got her to notice Blake. The only problem was at the time, Blake was dating Sun and she couldn't just take her from him. She had made a plan to grow closer to her so she could have a shot with her if they ever broke up. Yang just ended up falling flat on her face as she fell for Blake. Ever since then it was constant flirting and pick up lines, trying to get her attention. Blake for whatever reason kept on rejecting her though, even after she and Sun broke things off.

Ruby turned her attention to the fashionista next to her and looked back at Velvet. "Coco told me to tell you you look beautiful," she said as she took a sip of milk. She grimaced at the sour taste and looked at the carton's expiration date. It expired the previous week. Frowning, she placed it on the table and looked up at Velvet who was both blushing and confused. 

"When did you talk to Coco?" she asked as she picked up her fork. Ruby noticed the strawberries she had in a plastic container on her tray and pointed at it with puppy dog eyes. Velvet sighed but gave them to her anyway.

"Thanks Velvet," she said with a smile. "And we have geometry together. She asked to copy my homework and told me to tell you afterwards." Opening the container, Ruby put a strawberry in her mouth and moaned at its sweetness. 

"Save that for the ice queen," Yang said as she plopped down next to Ruby. Ruby blushed and nearly choked, pounding on her chest to keep her throat clear. Velvet and Jaune laughed while Penny was concerned for her and rubbed her back in hopes of helping. 

"Yang!" she exclaimed after she had safely swallowed everything in her mouth. "Don't say that so loud." She nervously looked over her shoulder to see if anyone one of her popular friends had heard what she said. Everyone at that table was busy doing their own thing. Blake was nose deep in a book, Pyrrha was chatting happily with Nora who was leaning all over Ren, Sun was flicking cucumber slices at Neptune as he flirted with Weiss who was trying to eat her salad. She seemed as if she was ignoring everything he said, instead choosing to pick at her food.

When Ruby turned back to her tray she saw Yang had eaten half of her fries. "When are you gonna ask her out?" she asked when she tried reaching for another fry only to have her hand slapped away.

"When Blake says yes to you," she said, picking up a fry. 

Yang scowled and pushed her little sister as their friends laughed. "You're not funny," she mumbled with a light blush. Ruby grinned as she munched on a fry.

"How are things with you two going?" Velvet asked with a smile. 

Yang shrugged as she leaned on the table. "The same I guess. I call her pretty and tell her how much I like her and ask her to go out with me and she just says something like, ask me again tomorrow, same time, same place, same way, and then when I do that she said she preferred the way I asked the day before so she couldn't agree to go out with me. I don't understand why she's playing so hard to get, she already has my attention. Girls are hard," she whined. 

Everyone at the table besides Penny said, "Tell me about it."

Ruby walked into biology with pencil shavings and left over eraser bits on her pants. She had rushed to finish her sketch for art before the class ended and didn't have the chance to clean up. She saw Jaune waiting for her in the back of the class looking bored. He was spinning a pencil around on the desk until Cardin walked by and knocked it off the table. "Be more careful Jauney boy," he said with a sneer. 

"Why can't he just leave you alone?" Ruby asked as she took her seat next to Jaune after Cardin had walked away. "You don't even do anything to bother him." She pulled out the folder she had designated for the class and waited for Ozpin to start. While he was technically the principal of the school, he still taught. Ruby enjoyed his class even if she didn't like the work.

"Maybe my hair's too blonde," he said as he leaned over to pick his pencil up off the ground. He looked at Ruby with a stupid smile and she laughed, ruffling up his hair.

"I think you mean too yellow vomit boy." He groaned and made her laugh some more.

"That happened in like sixth grade," he whined. Ruby giggled and stretched out her fingers which were sore from the previous period.

"Alright class, settle down," Ozpin's calm voice said. "We will be starting our research projects on genotypes and phenotypes. For this project, you will be put in pairs. I have already chosen who you will be paired with so please, don't complain. Due to recent developments in science, a female egg can be successfully fertilized using female bone marrow. Knowing that, you were put into pairs regardless of gender or sex. Please listen up as I call your names."

"If I get paired with Cardin, I'm killing myself," Jaune whispered to Ruby. 

"Same," she whispered back as Ozpin called out names.

"Ilia Amitola and Scarlet David. Neptune Vasilias and Melanie Malachite." Ruby watched Neptune's head dip down, clearly disappointed he wasn't paired with Weiss. The white-haired girl herself was whispering to Coco, obviously upset about having to work with a partner. "Pyrrha Nikos and Cardin Winchester." Ruby and Jaune both winced at the pairing. "Jaune Arc and Coco Adel." 

"At least it wasn't Cardin," Ruby whispered to Jaune after he got his pairing. The boy shrugged and waved sheepishly at Coco who had turned to look at him. She lowered her shades, her eyes scanning over him once before turning back to look at the front of the class.

"Yatsuahi Daichi and Fox Alistar. Flynt Coal and Lie Ren. Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee."

Ruby felt her whole body freeze as her name was called out alongside Weiss's. She could feel everyone in the class turn their gaze to her, wondering how she got lucky enough to be paired with Weiss freakin Schnee. 

She glanced up to where Weiss was sitting. It didn't look like she had moved an inch. Her posture was still achingly stiff, her focus on Ozpin. The only indication that she had heard who she had been paired with was the pencil being flexed between her fingers.

"Do you think she's gonna snap it?" Jaune asked as he noticed it too. Ruby hit his shoulder and buried her head in her arms. 

'No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This can not be happening. This is not happening. Why is this happening? Why is he doing this to me?' Ruby's internal crisis was cut short as Ozpin finished his list of pairs.

"Those are the pairs. I recommend you meet with your partner and start going over the project requirements. The first half of this project you are to do yourself, but I would like you to sit by your partners. If you have a problem with who you were assigned to work with, talk to me and I'll see what I can do about it. Go on now," he said as he returned to his desk. 

Ruby looked at Jaune in terror. "I don't actually have to go over there, do I?"

"I'm afraid so Red," Coco's voice came from behind her. Ruby looked over her shoulder to see the fashionista waiting impatiently for her to leave. 

She gulped as she picked up her things. As she walked up to Weiss's table, Ruby felt as if her knees were going to give out. She glanced back at Jaune who gave her a pitiful look. She took a deep breath before placing her books gently on the table next to Weiss's things. When the girl didn't yell at her for it, she slowly pulled the chair away from the table and sat down. She made sure to keep her eyes on the table and nothing else.

Ozpin had handed out the project requirements at the beginning of the class so Ruby decided to take her copy out. She wasn't sure if Weiss was waiting for her to say something or not so she said, "Um-"

"Just do what you need to accomplish to get your half of the project," Weiss's voice was cold and to the point. "I'll do all of the hard work so you won't mess any of it up."

Ruby, who still wasn't looking at her, just nodded. "Okay," she said dumbly. She heard a humph of confirmation and scribbling on paper as Weiss got to work. Looking at her paper, Ruby got to work herself. The silence between them was a stark contrast to the conversations everyone around the room were having. 

As Ruby walked out of the classroom, exhausted, she heard a pair of heels clicking behind her. "You," Weiss's voice sent chills down her spine. Ruby stopped in her tracks and turned around to face the white-haired girl. "Take this. Only contact me about the project." Ruby took the slip of paper Weiss held out to her, trying her best not to touch the girl's soft hands. Once the paper was in her hands, Weiss walked off, leaving her alone in the hallway, dazed and confused.

Gym was a good way to get her mind to stop thinking of Weiss. The cheerleader had said the total of four sentences to her for the whole time they had gone to school together and yet she was completely smitten. 

Ruby ran faster, hoping to outrun her gay thoughts. Her legs and lungs started to burn but kept pushing herself anyway. They were told to run a mile around the track before they could call it a day and Ruby was already two laps away from finishing. 

"Holy shit Ruby slow down," Yang called after her as she passed her for the second time. She ran even harder, not wanting to slow down. If she was up to joining a sport team with the school it would have been track, but she was too nervous to stay after school and spend time with other people. 

Completing her third lap, Ruby realized there were people coming up to her. She turned her head and saw Neptune and Sun smiling at her, Sun going as far as to wave. She looked back at the ground and tried to speed up in hopes of escaping a conversation with the boys. It turns out she was already pushing her body to the limit and couldn't move faster than she already was.

"Rudy," Neptune said as the two boys caught up to her.

"Ruby," she tried to correct him.

"I was wondering if you wanted to talk to Ozpin about switching partners. Weiss can be a little much sometimes and I thought you might enjoy Miltia's-"

"Melanie," she tried again.

"More quiet nature. What do you say? I have to head back to bio after this anyway. I can tell him we talked about it and I'm sure he'd change up our groups." The group came to a stop as Ruby finished her last lap, the boys stopping only after their third so they could talk.

Ruby looked up at both of the older and taller boys as she spoke timidly. "I, um, I don't know. Ozpin said it didn't matter who we worked with-"

"Exactly," Neptune said as he put both of his hands against the back of his head, flexing his muscles in the process. "It doesn't matter. Come on, let's just switch and I can work with Weiss and you can work with someone a little more your style. What do you say?" He flashed her an easy grin, teeth sparkling. 

Ruby rubbed the back of her neck, beyond uncomfortable and nervous. "Um, I-"

"I hope you're not trying to intimidate my partner." Ruby turned around to see Weiss walking up to the group with her arms crossed. Coco was behind her looking slightly winded as she cleaned her shades with her shirt. The white-haired girl stood next to her as she stared Neptune down, a single eyebrow arched. 

"Weiss, babe, snow angel. I know what you're thinking but come on, I'd never do something like that. I was just speaking nicely with a classmate about Ozpin's project. Sun can validate that," Neptune said as he wrapped his arm around his best friend. 

Ruby dropped her gaze to the floor as she rubbed her arm, too afraid to look at anyone. "Even so, you're making her uncomfortable. Leave her alone. And don't call me snow angel," Weiss said as she and Coco walked off.

Ruby watched them walk off and turned back to Sun and Neptune who were still in front of her. The blue-haired boy sighed before walking off. Sun followed him, but only after saying, "It was nice meeting you Ruby," with a smile. She waved to them as they left, the confused look on her face never leaving. Did Weiss just stand up for her?

"Are you okay Rubes? What did those guys want from you?" Yang asked as she jogged up to her. 

Ruby looked at her sister and shrugged. "Neptune wanted to switch partners for our bio project, but Weiss told him to stop bothering me." She and her sister started to walk towards the bleachers where Yang had left her water bottle. Some people were giving Ruby weird glances. She was just seen talking to two of the most popular guys in the school only later to be in the presence of Weiss Schnee as she spoke and now walking with Yang Xiao Long, the most well known girl jock of the school. Unbeknownst to a lot of people was the fact they were half sisters. It's not that Yang was ashamed of her and didn't want a connection to her, she just didn't care to tell anyone.

"That was.... surprisingly nice of her," Yang said as she grabbed her drink. Ruby hummed in agreement as she drank, too caught up in her own head to answer with words. It was really nice of Weiss. And Weiss wasn't known to be nice.

"Maybe I just don't bother her as much as everyone else does," she said as she sat down. 

Yang sat besides her and nodded. "That's true. She did only find out you existed today." Ruby had to urge to roll her eyes but didn't, knowing Yang was right. She sighed as she tilted her head back. Yang placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey if you ever want to talk..." she trailed off as Blake walked by with Pyrrha. "You know I'll see you at home. Love you sis," she said as she ran off to join the two girls.

This time Ruby did roll her eyes.

Ruby used her study in the library to finish the majority of her homework for the day. Her math was easy enough although tedious and she had filled out the packet she had gotten for history in class. There was twenty minutes left in the period and Ruby was trying her best to finish the outline for her English essay so she could work on her bio project. She hoped that proving to Weiss she was a hard worker would make the girl like her more.

Jotting her ideas down on the paper, Ruby made sure she was conscious of the ticking clock. She finally finished what she deemed to be enough of the outline and took out her papers for bio. The project was to find you and your partner's genotype and phenotype so that you could make a composite drawing of what your child could possibly look like. 

Great, Ruby was going to have to picture what her kid with Weiss would look like. Equal parts of her felt giddy and full of dread as she started to fill out the sheets of paper and start her half of the punnett squares. 

She was so deep in concentration that she barely heard the bell ring, dismissing her and every other student from school. She gathered her things quickly, eager to get home and finish the independent part of the project.

As she made her way out of the building and started her walk home, Ruby looked over the chain link fence to watch Weiss run her team through different exercises. From where she stood, she could just make out the outline of the captain's body, her white hair the only thing letting Ruby know who she was. 

She felt a smile grow on her face as Weiss started to go through different formations, looking elegant as she did. "Ruby? Is that you?" Ruby turned around to see Pyrrha walking up to her.

"Hey Pyrrha," she said with a smile, stopping so the older girl could catch up to her. 

It took her only a few strides before she stood in front of her. "I saw you running today during gym," she said as the two started to walk away from the school together. "I was wondering if you were thinking about joining the track team. We could use someone like you on the team."

Ruby rubbed the back of her neck as she chuckled. "I don't know, I mean, I don't normally do all that sports stuff. It's more Yang's style." The redhead nodded as they waited together at a stop sign.

"I understand," she told her with a smile. "Just know if you want to try out one day, I can talk to coach about letting you."

"Thanks Pyrrha," Ruby said with a smile. With no cars in sight, she waved bye to the taller girl as they went separate directions. 

Ruby thought on her way back home about whether or not she'd want to join the track team, but ultimately decided against it. She wasn't fit socially for that type of stuff. Opening the door to her house, Ruby walked in, shrugging her shoes off before heading upstairs.

"Ruby? Is that you kiddo?" her dad called. 

"Yeah. I'm going to be in my room doing homework," she shouted from the stairs.

"Okay sweetie, have fun." Ruby smiled as she made her way to her room. She threw her book bag on her bed, shrugging her dirty sweatshirt off to put in the laundry bin. Grabbing her deodorant, she put on another layer before rummaging through her bag for her stuff. Grabbing her bio folder, she placed it on her desk. She pulled out the papers she needed for the assignment and got to work.

When she got a text from her dad letting her know dinner was ready, she noticed another message from a number she didn't know. She opened up the text and read it. 'It's Weiss. You were taking too long to contact me so I got your number from someone else. I've completed my independent portion of the project and wanted to remind you to do yours before class tomorrow.'

Ruby felt her heart pound in her chest. She threw her phone on her bed as she screamed into her hands.


	2. Not Stupid

Ruby groaned as her alarm went off in the morning. She had stayed up late the night before with thoughts of the white-haired cheerleader. After she had gotten the text from Weiss and finished freaking out, she managed to send her a text back letting her know she had already completed her work as well. 

All through dinner she was anxious. She could barely finish half her meal. Her leg kept nervously bouncing up and down as she glanced at her phone through the corner of her eye. Yang and Tai both shared looks of concern, but didn't want to stress her out when they were eating. Once she had seen both her dad and sister's plates empty, Ruby dashed to the sink with their plates before rushing back up to her room. She had placed her phone on her desk and paced back and forth in front of it. Part of her wanted to check to see if Weiss had replied to her yet. At the same time, another part of her didn't want to check her phone ever again. She didn't want to seem creepy if she responded to her too fast.

She decided to take a shower in hopes of distracting herself. The warm water was soothing to her, but her mind still raced. What if she was too snarky in the text? Would Weiss think she was being rude if she told her to not worry about her? Was Weiss worrying about her? Thoughts like those filled her head as the water washed over her. Weiss had been nice-ish to her for the majority of their interactions and had even stood up for her when Neptune tried to convince her to switch partners. None of that meant she actually liked Ruby and wasn't annoyed by her.

By the time she made it back to her room after getting ready for the night, it was already 10:30. When she finally did go back on her phone, Ruby saw another message on her from Weiss that was sent 15 minutes ago. 'Good.' That was all the message said. She sighed in both relief and disappointment. Ruby wished the girl wasn't so dry, but at the same time was glad. She didn't know what she would do if Weiss tried having an actual conversation with her. She opened her message so at least Weiss could see that she had gotten her message and put her phone down.

Ruby had laid down in bed after that. She tried to fall asleep but nothing she did worked. She tried counting sheep, their wool reminded her of the color of Weiss's hair. She tried picturing a scenario where her mother was holding her as they looked up at the stars together, but the warmth of her mother's arms turned out to be Weiss as she turned to look at who was holding her. She tried to clear her head completely but her brain would just not stop thinking of Weiss. 

When she checked her phone and the time said 12:56, Ruby considered asking Yang if she could sleep with her. As she got out of bed, she noticed her finished sketch sitting on her desk. She sat down and looked at it for a while. Her eyes traced the curve of every petal, the point of every thorn, the wave of each lock of hair. She stared at the picture and realized something was missing. She got out her pencil and erased what she didn't like and added what she wanted. The filled in rose petals became white and the space above and below her face became empty. 

'Red like roses fills my head'

The lyrics from the song her mother would sing to her as a child rushed into her mind. She was quick to capture their meaning on the page. Her head where rose petals fluttered passed became surrounded by a crown of red roses. The petals spewing from her mouth came out white. The single rose she drew in front of her bled, its white petals dripping red dew. Ruby didn't remember when she decided to add colors to her art, but she found her pencil had been replaced by colored ones in an attempt to express the vision behind her eyes.

By the time she was satisfied with her work, her eyes stung and hands ached. She checked the time again and saw it was 3:49 in the morning. She had sighed and wearily got in bed. When she tried falling asleep she found her mind empty and drifted right off to bed.

The memories of what happened flashed through her head as she brushed her teeth. She rubbed her eyes and hoped that by the time she got to school they wouldn't look so bloodshot. There was a banging on the door as Yang yelled, "Breakfast is ready!" Ruby rolled her eyes, speeding up her routine anyway so she could get something to eat. 

"Are you okay sweetie?" Tai asked as she sat at the table for breakfast. "You look tired." He served her a bowl of cereal and cup of orange juice with a pat on her head.

Her face contorted into one of disgust as she picked up the cup, wishing it was apple juice. "I'm fine. I just couldn't sleep well last night. I got partnered with the popular girl for a project and she's-"

"The scary, rude, blunt head bitch in charge," Yang said as she sat down next to Ruby. Tai rolled his eyes at his oldest daughter. "Only, she was nice to you for some reason, which is weird." 

"Well if she's nice to you, why don't you try being friends with her?" Tai asked as he sat down to have his own breakfast. Ruby and Yang shared a look with each other.

"She's not just someone you can become friends with," Ruby said before she wolfed down her cereal. 

Taiyang looked at both girls in confusion. "If you're worth her time you can be friends with her and surprise surprise, not that many people are good enough for her," Yang said, waving her hands in the air to emphasize her point. "She's only friends with the jocks and other rich people. And Blake. But I think that's just because she's smart."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah we know Blake's smart, no need to go on a tangent about her," Ruby said as she brought her dish to the sink. "Blake is so smart and pretty and I just want to hold her hand and play with her hair and kiss her." Ruby mimicked Yang's voice and successfully got a rise out of Yang. 

"At least I can tell her how I feel. It's not like I'm hiding like you are from the ice queen." Yang was only semi joking as she made her way to the kitchen after her sister. 

"Who's the ice queen?" their dad called from the dining room table. 

"Weiss," both girls said as they went to get their shoes. 

Tai nodded as he said, "Ohhh." The girls got ready for school together and got ready to say goodbye. "Be safe at school and make sure you learn something," he told them as he gave each daughter a hug and kiss on the head. 

"Bye dad!" Ruby called as she ran out of the house. 

"Bye dad," Yang said as she followed behind her with a soft smile. "Rubes! Wait up," Yang called after her younger sister. She ran to her until they were side by side. "If anyone gives you any trouble like they were yesterday, just tell me and I'll put them in their place." She punched her fist into her hand to make a point and smiled when Ruby giggled at her. 

"I'll be fine, don't worry. I just need to avoid talking to anyone who isn't Jaune, Penny, Velvet, or you." The two sisters waited at the crosswalk for cars to pass.

Yang smirked. "You better add Weiss to that list. You don't want to make her mad by ignoring her." 

Ruby blushed and tried pushing her sister who didn't even budge. "You know what I meant," she muttered as they walked across the street. The blonde laughed as Ruby scowled. The two walking into the school together before going their separate ways once inside the building.

Ruby expected to peacefully be able to head to her locker before class to grab her books like she did every day. Instead, when she made the turn around the corner, she saw Sun, Neptune, and Blake standing in front of her locker, talking with each other. She quickly panicked and walked across the hallway to where Penny was standing at her locker.

"Oh, Salutations friend. Why are you not at your locker?" she asked her. Ruby tried to hide behind her and stay out of view of the trio. 

"Hey Penny. Do you know how long they've been at my locker?" she asked as she tried to discreetly get Penny to look over her shoulder. The girl glanced at them before turning back to her. 

Putting her books in her bag, she said, "For a few minutes actually. They were waiting there when I first got here. Do you need to talk to them?" 

"No. I don't want to talk to them. They're scary and I'm socially awkward. Penny, what do I do?" Ruby asked as she shook the girl by her shoulders. 

"You can tell them to leave you alone," a calm voice suggested from behind Penny. Both girls looked to see Blake staring at them with her books in hand. "Unless of course, you don't mind the attention."

Ruby gulped as Penny said brightly, "Hello Blake! Good morning." 

Blake chuckled with a small smile on her lips. "Good morning Penny. I'm guessing Ruby is using you to hide from those two idiots." Penny nodded as Ruby shook her head.

"She is indeed."

"I am not!" 

Blake's smile seemed to grow as both girls spoke at the same time. "Don't let them bother you," she said softly. "And don't let them stop you from getting to class on time." The girl walked off, Ruby and Penny both watching her go. 

"She is right," Penny said as she slammed her locker shut. "We must get to class. I will see you in English Ruby." With that, she patted the younger girl on the shoulder as she walked down the hallway. When Ruby looked back at her locker, she noticed Neptune and Sun were gone and smiled.

She made her way across the hallway and put her combo in. She tried to move as fast as possible, not wanting them to see her or be late to class. "You know, I can tell him to back off if he's being a jerk." Ruby shot up from the floor where she had crouched down to collect her geometry textbook, slamming her head on the metal shelving inside in the process. She turned to see Sun standing behind her with a kind smile on his face. "Granted, that he is annoying," he added as he leaned against the locker next to hers.

Ruby had never really talked to Sun that much before. Like Blake, he had been forced into a few conversations with her when Yang would hang out with him and other jocks at their house. He was always really nice and friendly with her though, like he was with everyone. Closing her locker, Ruby put her book in her bag before flinging it over her shoulders and rubbing the back of her head. The two started to walk together as they both headed to the same class. 

"He's not annoying," she said quietly. Sun gave her a look that said he didn't believe her and she started playing with the straps of her bag to distract herself. "I just, I'm not good with talking to people. I don't care if he wants to switch partners, but at the same time, I don't care if we don't get switched, or if we do get switched, but I end up with him and Melanie ends up with Weiss. I just don't want to cause a problem." 

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Sun smiling at her. "You're not causing any problem, I promise. He's just had a crush on her for a while and wants to spend as much time with her as possible. Don't take it too serious and don't feel bad about anything. Oz chose partners the way he did for a reason and he's just too much of a baby to get over it. I'll make sure he leaves you alone, don't worry." They stopped outside of the math class together, Ruby afraid to go in with him by her side.

"Um, thanks Sun," she told him with a small smile. 

He grinned at her and threw his arm around her shoulders, dragging her into class with him. "No problem. You're pretty cool and I know Yang would have my head if I didn't at least try doing something." Ruby rolled her eyes as they made their way to the back, laughing slightly. She saw Coco and Neptune staring at the both of them, each with a different look on their face. on Coco's it was confusion. On Neptune's it was hopefulness. "Talk to you later Red," he said as they separated, making his way to his seat. 

Ruby watched him sit down as she took her own seat. He was immediately swarmed by Neptune who was asking questions like, "What did she say? Will she switch? Should I talk to Ozpin during lunch? Do I get to tell Weiss I'll be her partner?" Coco also leaned in to hear what he had to say.

Whatever he said seemed to disappoint Neptune who sunk in his seat, a frown on his face. She and Sun made eye contact as he caught her watching them. He gave her a bright smile so she smiled back at him shyly. When Coco turned to her, Ruby busied herself with digging her homework out of her bag, hoping to avoid talking to her.

"Hey Red-"

"Good morning class. Today we will be going over a very easy subject so I suggest you pay attention so you can finish the homework in class. Speaking of homework, pass it forward." Ruby had never been more relieved to hear Oobleck's voice as he cut off Coco. She passed her worksheet to the kid in front of her and focused on the board as Oobleck began writing down a formula.

Ruby tried her best to drown out everything during the day. She worked on her homework during class, participated in answering questions, and even went as far as to actively listen to one of Professor Port's stories about his childhood. It worked well until she walked into English. Just as she walked through the door she bumped into Weiss who was trying to leave. Silver met blue as Weiss glared up at her. Ruby cowered at the girl's cold expression, confused as she watched it turn soft.

"Oh, it's just you." Ruby looked at the ground as fast as she could and stepped out of her way.

"I'm so sorry!" she said faster than she had ever spoken before. She saw Weiss's shoes come into her line of sight, but refused to look up, afraid to make her angry.

"It's fine. Just watch where you're going," she warned, her voice oddly neutral. Ruby nodded vigorously and practically ran away from her. Her whole body was shaking by the time she made it to her seat. It felt as if she had just run a hundred miles in a row. Ruby was sick to her stomach and easily ignored the weird looks everyone was giving her.

'Why didn't she yell at me?' she wondered. Weiss was prone to snapping at people who got in her way for nearly anything. Whether the person stepped on her foot in the hallway by accident or tried to hit on her during gym, she always had something mean to say to them. So why not Ruby?

"Are you okay?" Penny asked, placing her hand on Ruby's shaking ones. Afraid her speaking might somehow anger Weiss who wasn't even in the room at the moment, she just shook her head. "Here," the redhead said, pulling out her water bottle. "Drink something." Ruby took it gratefully from the girl. Just as she tilted the bottle up, Weiss walked in the room, making eye contact with the younger girl once again. 

Ruby felt water fall on her face and started to cough as it went up her nose and down the wrong pipe. Penny immediately took the bottle from her and started to rub her back as she coughed. Some of the class started to laugh, those who were staring at her previously seeing what happened. Ruby blushed in embarrassment and hid her head in her arms as she laid on her desk. 

"Looks like the baby can't even drink right."

"Guess all Roses can't handle too much water."

"Maybe she still needs her sippy cup."

"And a bib." 

Comments like those started to get whispered around the class once the laughter died down. Ruby could feel the tears prick in the corners of her eyes and just kept her head down, wishing to be anywhere but there. Penny had pulled tissues out of her bag so Ruby could dry herself off, but the girl didn't want them and just swatted at her hands as she offered them to her. "What's wrong?" asked Cardin's teasing voice. "Does the baby miss her mommy?" 

Ruby felt her chest tighten and a tear fell onto her desk as she gasped. "Leave her alone!" The whole class quieted, every pair of eyes in the room making their way to Weiss. Ruby stared at the girl, wiping at her tears away as she did. Weiss marched over to Cardin's desk and pointed a finger at him. "She hasn't done anything to bother you and I'm sick of watching you bully everyone. No one deserves it and everyone is tired of your nonsense. Grow up and leave her alone." 

A pin could be heard dropping. The room was in total silence. "Miss Schnee? Is everything all right? I heard yelling from in the hallway," Goodwitch said as she walked into the class. She missed the looks of astonishment everyone was sending to each other. There was even a look of surprise on Blake's face and she never looked anything other than mild.

Ruby saw the ice cold glare Weiss gave to Cardin before she turned to the teacher with a smile. "Yes, everything is fine ma'am. Just settling a dispute for you." She walked back to her desk and folded her skirt under her before sitting down. She was as regal and refined as ever, no sign of her outburst evident. 

"I see. Thank you Miss Schnee. Today you will have an independent work day to get as much work as you can done. I don't care if you are still looking for resources or starting your rough draft, I want silence," the teacher said as she addressed the class. Everyone nodded and got to work, pulling out papers or books or both. Ruby was still staring at the back of Weiss's head, still unsure about what had just happened.

"Did she just stand up for me?" Ruby asked as she finally managed to pull her gaze away from the white-haired girl. Penny nodded at her with a smile.

"Yes, it seems she did. That was quite nice of her." Penny took out some pieces of paper as Ruby turned her attention back to the cheerleader. 

'That was really nice of her.' She made eye contact with Blake who happened to be looking at her over her shoulder. The girl frowned at her, quickly looking at the teacher's desk before standing up and heading to the back of the room. Weiss gave her a weird look as she stood, looking over her shoulder to see Ruby. Whatever face she made, Ruby couldn't read it.

Blake crouched by her desk and handed her a tissue she took from Penny's bag. "Are you okay? Yang told me about your mom. I'm so sorry he said that Ruby, he was just being a dick." Ruby tried her best not to sniffle as she wiped her eyes. 

"Yeah I'm fine, I just, I don't really like having to mention her is all. Thank you for checking on me. I think you just gave Yang another reason to like you," she tried joking. The look of concern stayed on Blake's face anyway. 

She grabbed her arm and was about to say something when Goodwitch said, "Miss Belladonna, get back to your seat." 

The girl sighed. Before she stood she said, "If you ever need someone to talk to, I've been told I'm a great listener." Ruby smiled at her with a nod as she walked off. 

"Thanks Blake," she whispered even though the girl was out of hearing range. She turned to Penny who gave her a small smile and patted her shoulder. Feeling like someone was watching her, she looked up and saw the glare Goodwitch was sending her way. As she rushed to get her things out of her bag, she missed the concerned look Weiss sent her over her shoulder. It lasted only a moment and then the girl had turned back to her work.

Ruby was mopey at lunch. Her friends noticed her less than enthusiastic behavior. When Yang sat down at the table with them for a few minutes like she normally did, she noticed her sister didn't even bother to stop her from stealing her food. She sent a glance at Velvet and Jaune who had just shrugged. When she looked at Penny, the girl said, "It is not my place to say what happened." 

"Rubes? Is everything okay?" she asked softly. Ruby who had been crumbling a piece of her taco shell that had broken off between her finger and the table just half heartedly shrugged. Yang put her arm around her shoulder and hugged her close. "What happened?" Ruby sighed and laid her head on her sister's shoulder. Yang hugged her tighter as she waited patiently for her to talk. 

"I choked on some water during class and everyone started to call me a baby. Then Cardin asked if I missed my mommy." Ruby's voice was quiet, but Yang heard her words loud and clear. Her body shook with anger, her eyes red with rage. 

She stood and cracked her knuckles. "Where is that asshole? I'm gonna tear him a new one," she growled as her eyes scanned the lunchroom. 

Ruby tugged on her sister's shirt to gain her attention. "You don't have to," she said. 

Yang turned to her and said, "Ruby, I know that you are okay with letting things be, but I'm not. I have to teach that motherfu-"

"Weiss already did." Everyone around her, besides Penny, looked surprised, including Yang. 

"What?" she asked, sitting back down in confusion.

Ruby sighed as she looked over her shoulder to Weiss's table. Everyone looked over at them and saw Weiss raging to all her friends about something. "She told him to leave me alone and to stop bullying people. She told him to grow up before she walked away. She stopped everyone from laughing at me. And then Blake came and checked on me. So I dunno, I just don't think you need to confront him or anything. It's not a big deal anymore." Blake must have known they were talking about her because she looked over at their table when Ruby said her name. She got up and started walking over to them, taking a seat next to Velvet and across from Yang.

"Hey, how are you doing?" she asked kindly. Jaune was the only person at the table who was clearly uncomfortable being around a popular girl. Everyone else was already used to Blake for one reason or another, the girl being on basically everyone's good side.

Ruby sent her a small smile as she broke apart more of her taco shell. "I'm fine. Just a little unsettled is all." Blake smiled at her and grabbed her hands from across the table to stop her from crushing more of her meal. 

"Well he won't be bothering you anymore I'm sure." 

"And if he tries, I'll make sure he never does again," Yang said, punching her hand with her fist. Ruby rolled her eyes, but leaned her head against Yang's shoulder, her sister's arm wrapping around her once more.

"Thanks guys," she said, a real smile making its way to her face.

As the end of art came around, Ruby handed in her sketch as her final piece, not bothering to transfer it to a different sheet of paper. "I'll have it graded by the end of the week," was all the teacher said as she handed it in. Ruby had walked over to where Velvet was working. The girl had decided that for her piece she was going to combine a photo she took of Atlas at night when she visited the country and one of a flower growing out of concrete. When Ruby asked her how she was going to make it sad she explained how the city was in the way of the flower's home and how that should be sad enough as is. Ruby looked over her shoulder to see how far she had gotten with her project. She had the outline of both pictures drawn on her paper and had started painting the background.

"What do you think?" she asked Ruby when she noticed the girl standing behind her. 

She started to clean up her area as Ruby nodded. "I think it looks really nice. I'm sure you'll make it look amazing by the time you're done," she said with a smile. Velvet smiled back at her as she washed her brushes in the sink. 

"Thanks. Yours was really good. I loved the Hanahaki Disease idea. I'm guessing a certain cheerleader inspired you," she said with a smirk. Ruby rolled her eyes at her friend's joke, but nodded.

"Technically yes, but really no." She walked back with Velvet to her table and grabbed her bag when the girl put her painting to dry.

Velvet looked behind her to see the younger girl still following her around. "Do you want me to walk with you to class?" she asked kindly. Everyone who knew about what happened with Ruby's mom knows that she is very easily upset after she gets mentioned and the last thing Velvet wanted to do was make her feel worse. 

Ruby nodded at her timidly. "If you don't mind," she said, her eyes on the ground. 

Velvet walked up to her and put her hand on her forearm. "Lucky for you I don't. Let me grab my things and we can leave when the bell rings." Ruby smiled at her friend and together, they waited at the door. The bell rang and the two girls walked to Ruby's bio class, talking about their projects along the way. They stopped a few feet from the door and Velvet said, "I have to get going. I'll see you in gym." The two hugged and Velvet walked off with a wave. Ruby took a deep breath before walking through the door of her biology class. She looked at her normal seat and saw Coco already there, staring at Jaune as he wrote on both of their papers.

She turned her attention to where she sat yesterday. Weiss was already busy writing down the assignment in her planner. A pop went off and Ruby watched her scowl as her concentration was lost. Turning to the origin of the noise, Ruby saw that Cardin had twisted an empty water bottle and popped the lid off. He made eye contact with her and glared at her. Scared, Ruby looked away and made her way slowly to her seat. She placed her bag gently on the floor and sat down quietly. 

She tried her best not to look at the girl as she pulled her things out of her bag. She placed her folder on the table and pulled out her answer filled packet. She looked up at Weiss to see the girl already staring at her. She blushed under her gaze and rubbed the back of her neck. "Um, I did all the work from yesterday. Do you want me to fill out my half on yours so we can finish earlier?" Ruby asked as Weiss kept her attention on her. Ruby drummed her fingers on the table as she kept looking in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Ruby blinked at her in shock. 

"What?" she asked, confused. Weiss rolled her eyes, but asked again.

"Are you okay? Today in English I heard you cr-" She cut herself off as she noticed Ruby's downturn look. "I heard you get upset. Are you okay?" Ruby shook her head quickly before nodding.

"I'm okay, yeah I'm okay, um, thank you for asking. And thank you for sticking up for me. That was, really nice of you," she said with a small smile. Weiss looked away from her to their packets and nodded with a hum.

"We can work on this together. You can fill out your packet first, then I can do mine. If we finish early enough we can start the punnett squares early." 

"Oo, I already started them," Ruby said with a smile, pulling out the work she had done yesterday. She showed them to Weiss and said, "I made them all yesterday and started filling out my half. I figured it would be good to get a head start." 

Weiss looked over her work and nodded. "That was very... diligent of you. I can work on filling out my half of these when you write down my genotypes and phenotypes on your paper." 

"Okay," Ruby said with a bright smile. She pulled Weiss's paper closer to her and started to write her answers down. They worked in sync for the whole period, exchanging answers and working together to get everything done. At one point Ruby caught Weiss staring at her. "Um, is something wrong? Did I write down the wrong thing?" she asked as she turned to her.

Weiss looked back at the paper in front of her and said, "No, I was just wondering about your eyes."

"What about them?" she asked, looking over her paperwork. 

"You put yourself as heterozygous dominant. I've never seen silver eyes before. I was wondering how you can be sure it's a dominant trait," she explained. 

Ruby smiled at her as she began to stare at her eyes again. "Oh well my dad has blue eyes and my mom had silver eyes so I figured it has to be a dominant trait." Weiss nodded at her and continued to complete their work. The bell rang and both girls rushed to grab their stuff so they wouldn't be late to their next class. What both neglected to look at was the name at the top of the packet they picked up.

'I'm a cheetah on the plains, I'm the highway star

A supersonic princess in a million dollar car

Blood on fire pumping through my veins

Weaving in and out while I'm bolting through the lanes

I'm hyperdrive, overdr-' There was a tap on Ruby's shoulder. She pulled her headphones off and saw the librarian standing over her with her arms crossed.

"I can hear your music. Keep it down or take off your headphones," she warned before stalking off to yell at the next kid who was making too much noise. Ruby sighed and lowered her music before sliding her headphones back on. She tapped her pencil on the table in beat with her music as she looked over the math homework. Her head bopped to the song, her pencil scribbling the answer on her paper. 

She had kept her sweatshirt off after gym, too hot after running on the track to put it back on. Pyrrha had talked to her about joining the track team again. Ruby put the eraser end of her pencil up to her lips as she thought. It was time for her to start trying new things and making new friends, but in truth, she was still too scared. It would be a good thing for college. 'I know it's my junior year, but there's still time for me to get a scholarship.' 

Grabbing her notes from the class, she looked over what she had written and used it for her work. She grabbed her phone and skipped the song that was playing, not wanting to listen to it at the moment. After she finished her math, she only had her English essay rough draft and bio project to work on. Granted, she didn't need to work on the bio, but Weiss had complimented her on doing the work ahead of time and it would be nice to hear another one come from her mouth. 

Pulling out her calculator, she quickly did some problems with it before putting away both her finished homework and the device. The next song started up and Ruby hummed silently along to it.

'Never really had a problem with you

All along I thought our friendship was true

Put my trust in you right from the start

I never dreamed that you would be my enemy, the knife to take my heart'

A paper was put in front of her. More specifically, her paper was put in front of her. Confused, Ruby looked up to see Weiss standing across the table from her. She quickly tore off her headphones and pulled her phone out to stop her music. "Um, I uhh-"

"We accidently took each other's packets. I figured I'd bring you yours when we were still in school," the girl said. Ruby couldn't tell how the girl was feeling. She didn't look angry or upset or even annoyed. Her face was completely blank. 

"Oh," she said dumbly. "I'm sorry." She leaned down to take her bio folder out of her bag and searched for Weiss's packet.

"It's fine, you didn't do it on purpose and we both were in such a rush we didn't notice." The cheerleader took a seat and watched as Ruby searched through her belongings. She found her packet and handed it to her.

"Still, I'm sure it was a chore having to hunt me down. But thank you, I appreciate it," she told her with a smile. Weiss looked away from her and nodded. She didn't leave immediately and Ruby watched her intently.

Weiss looked at her again and gave her a small smile. "I hope you have a good day." She got up and walked out of the library, her packet in hand. Ruby felt her heart stop. Then it started to beat extremely fast. She felt her face heat up and slapped her hands onto her cheeks in hopes of cooling them down. Her smile. Her goddamn smile. It was something soft and beautiful and sweet and it was meant just for her. There was no one else Weiss had directed it to but her.

"You too," Ruby managed to whisper even though she was long gone. The bell rang and she relied on muscle memory to pack up her stuff. She was in autopilot as she made her ways through the halls and to her locker. Weiss had wished her a good day. She dumped her textbooks into her locker and shut the door before turning to leave the building. Weiss had seeked her out just to give her her packet. She walked out of the school doors and walked down the sidewalk. 

Ruby looked over the chain link fence to see Weiss running practice for the cheer team. They were stretching as a group, everyone following Weiss's lead as she ran them through the drills. "If you're worried about small workouts like that, it won't be a big deal," Pyrrha said as she walked up to her. 

Ruby blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh, it's not that. I just, um, I was just watching for Yang," she lied. "I know sometimes the football team shares the field with the cheerleaders." The two started walking together. Ruby wasn't sure when she and the taller girl had gotten into their little routine of walking home together. One day she and Pyrrha just happened to be talking as they started their walk and ever since then, they had been doing it every day since. At first Ruby wasn't sure what to think. She thought Yang might have asked the redhead to walk with her in order to keep an eye on her when they were younger, but after having a conversation with her, found out Pyrrha was doing it because she enjoyed her company.

"I think the team is in the weight room today," she told her. Ruby nodded, pretending to not have already known that. "Do you think you're any closer to trying out for the team this spring? I'm telling you you'd be perfect for the team."

Ruby smiled at her. "I've been thinking about it more. Just thinking. I'm not sure how I'd do around other people." The girls stopped at the stop sign like they did every day.

Pyrrha turned to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You shouldn't be worried about that. Everyone is really nice and I'm sure they'd all love you. Look, forget about everyone else. If you want to do this, try out. You might find that you're destined to do this," she said with a smile. 

Ruby smiled at her and nodded. "I'll think about it Pyrrha. I'll see you tomorrow." The girls went separate ways as they made their way home. 'I'm sure it would be fun,' she reasoned with herself as she opened the front door.

At dinner that night, when her dad asked if anything happened at school today, Ruby and Yang shared a look. "Um," Yang said as she pushed her food around with her fork.

"I was thinking about joining the track team," Ruby spurted out before she could say anything. Both her dad and sister looked at her in surprise. 

"Since when?" he asked. Ruby shrugged as she took a sip of water.

"For a little while. Pyrrha is the team's captain and she has been talking to me about joining. I thought it might be a good thing for college, especially if I get a scholarship for it." Ruby looked between her dad and Yang as they both nodded.

"Rubes is really fast. I'm sure she'd be great on the team," Yang said to their dad. Ruby nodded to her words with a smile.

Tai smiled at both his girls. "Well if it's something you'd want to do, talk more to this girl about it and I'd be more than happy for you to take up a sport. Oh this is amazing. I'll tell your uncle Qrow about it," he said with a smile, getting up to get his phone.

Once he was out of the room, Yang asked, "You're not going to tell dad about Cardin?"

Ruby shrugged. "Why bother. It's not a big deal and I have you to take care of any problems he gives me. Besides, I'm serious about this track thing."

Yang smirked at her and shook her head as she laughed. "I see what you're doing."

Confused, Ruby asked, "What am I doing?" 

"You're trying to catch the ice queens attention and get into shape for her." Ruby blushed at Yang's accusation. Tai walked into the room, having just got off the phone with his brother in law.

"Your Uncle said it sounds like you're trying to run away from gay thoughts. Is that true?" he asked as he took his seat. 

"More like spur them up," Yang said with a smirk. 

"Yang!" Ruby complained as she tried to shove her sister. Yang got up from the table and started to run away, Ruby hot on her trail. 

When Ruby went to bed for the night, she checked her phone and saw she had two messages. One was from her uncle. It was a picture of him, her dad, her mom, and Yang's mom in track uniforms and smiles on their faces. 'We all ran track at one point. I guess it's in the family.' Ruby smiled at his message as looked at the picture, staring at her mother. She was a carbon copy of her. Putting her phone down, Ruby easily fell asleep to a dream of her mom cheering her on as she ran on the track.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The RWBY soundtracks are all fire.


	3. Nice Weiss

When Ruby woke up in the morning, she shut off her alarm and got out of bed to pick out an outfit for the day. She settled on a red long sleeve shirt that fit her body well and a pair of black skinny jeans. She quickly dressed and made her way to the bathroom where she could hear Yang brushing her teeth. "Hurry up!" she called through the door.

"I'll be out in a minute!" Ruby rolled her eyes knowing it would take her longer. She pulled her phone out as she waited, planning on texting Pyrrha about trying out for track. When she opened up her messages, she saw one she didn't remember to open from last night. She had forgotten to open it after seeing Uncle Qrow's message.

She tapped on it and blushed as she read it. 'I know it's late and you're probably asleep, but I was just checking to make sure you're okay. Blake told me about your mom. I'm so sorry. I understand I might not be the person you want to talk to about it, but I'd be happy to talk with you about her. Let me know how you're feeling in the morning.' She read the message probably a hundred times, her heart pounding harder each time she did. The door to the bathroom opened in front of her and Yang said, "Sorry I took so long. Meet you downstairs for breakfa- Did something happen to you? It looks like Jaune sent you a dirty video by accident again."

Ruby peeled her eyes from her phone to stare at Yang. "What? No. I'm fine. Just um, saw a cool car," she tried lying. She pushed back Yang to get to the bathroom before her sister could bother her about it more. She readied her toothbrush and placed it in her mouth. She started to type back to Weiss. 'Yeah I'm fine.' That wasn't good enough and she deleted it. 'Thank you for checking up on me.' That one got deleted too. Ruby sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. The tips of her hair were a faded red, less vibrant than they were when she dyed them a few months back. She looked back at her phone as she brushed her teeth. 

'Let me know how you feel in the morning.' She felt fine in all honesty. Her friends had taken care of her and made sure she was all right. 

Smiling, she wrote, "I feel fine this morning. Maybe a little tired, but I'm doing well. It made me feel better when everyone checked up on me and made sure I was okay. Thank you for caring. It means a lot :)' She sent the text and finished up in the bathroom, eager to get to school. 

Her dad must have noticed the pep in her step because he asked her, "What's got you in such a good mood?" as he placed a bowl of cereal in front of her. 

"Oh you know," she said with a smile. "Just excited to get to school today." Her dad smiled and ruffled her hair, placing a cup of orange juice on the table as he did. 

"At least one of my daughters are." Yang rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Tai as he snickered. "Do you two have any plans for after school today? We need to stop by the store soon. I was wondering if one of you wanted to come with me."

"I have practice after school. I could stop by the store on my way home," Yang offered with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Could I go with her? I mean, I wanted to dye my hair tonight and need dye from the store. You're allowed to stay after school if a sibling is your ride home so I'd be allowed to stay with Yang," Ruby asked, prepared to use her puppy dog eyes if she needed to. 

Tai just nodded as he munched on some toast. "Sounds like a plan to me. I'll give you some money for groceries, but whatever you want to get for yourself, comes out of your own pocket."

"Okay dad," both girls said with a roll of their eyes. They got up and put their empty dishes in the sink. Ruby threw on her converse before heading over to her dad. They shared a hug and he gave her a kiss on the head, doing the same with Yang while slipping her some money for the store. "Bye dad," they said together as they walked out the front door.

"Do you want me to help you re-dye your tips tonight?" Yang asked her as they walked to school. 

Ruby nodded with a smile. "Yeah, that would be nice." Yang smiled at her and threw her arm over her shoulder. Ruby ran her hand through Yang's hair and said, "You should let me dye your hair black."

Yang grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away from her head. "You wouldn't dare." Ruby smiled as she tugged her hand from her sister's grasp and ran away. She chased her up to the school where they both slowed down when a teacher yelled at them.

The beginning of the day was mostly uneventful for Ruby. She was glad no one decided to bother her, still a little tender from Cardin's teasing yesterday. She was walking in the hallway after third period ended and was making her way to English. She pulled out her phone to see if her dad had texted her what they would need to get from the store when she saw a message from Weiss. She clicked on it and read what the girl had said. 'I'm glad to hear you're feeling better. I must admit it was quite unusual to see you in such a somber mood. I'm so used to seeing a smile on your face, I could hardly tell who you were when you walked up to me in biology yesterday. You should try to smile today. It's a nice look on you.' Ruby blushed as she read that last of Weiss's message. 

'She thinks I look nice.' She smiled to herself before frowning. 'She probably just means in the friendly way, not that I actually look good. Oh well, that doesn't mean I can't pretend," she thought, a smaller smile gracing her lips as she walked into class. Her eyes glanced at the white-haired girl's seat and saw she was having a conversation with Blake who was reading a book, her back turned to her. Ruby quickly typed, 'You just put a smile on my face :)' and sent the text. She put her phone away before Goodwitch could take it from her and sat in her usual spot next to Penny. 

"Saluations Ru-"

"Okay class, today we have a lot to get done," Goodwitch's stern voice cut off the redhead's greeting. Ruby just smiled at her as the teacher continued her speech. "By now, I expect you all have your outlines and beginning of your rough drafts done. If you don't than you have been wasting your time and need to get to work. Today we will be doing peer reviews. I will assign everyone partners and there will be a single group of three. Listen up, I will not repeat myself. Cardin Winchester and Ruby Rose." Ruby slammed her head on her desk, loudly enough Goodwitch gave her a weird look as she continued her pairings. "Miltia Malachite and Ciel Soleil. Blake Belladonna and Henry Marigold. Penny Polendina and Weiss Schnee." Unlike Ruby, Penny had no reaction to her pair.

As Goodwitch kept reading off the list she had prepared, Ruby leaned over to whisper to Penny. "Do you think I could hide out in the bathroom for the period?" she asked, glancing at Cardin who had a scowl on his face.

"You will be graded on participation. If you decide not to do the work or go over your peer's work, a zero will be put in the gradebook as a summative." Ruby let her head hit the desk a second time. "Pair up, you will only have this class to look over everything."

"I am so sorry," Penny whispered as both girls got up to move. Ruby's eyes drifted to Weiss as she wished she could be paired with her again. She saw both her and Blake giving her looks of concern. She faked a smile for them as she walked up to the empty desk near Cardin. Neither said a word to the other as they got out their papers. While Ruby hadn't gotten much of her rough draft done, she was about halfway through it. Cardin on the other hand had nothing done and didn't look as if he would be working any time soon. 

Goodwitch started handing out papers. "This is your peer review, I expect it to be completed and handed into me at the end of the period," she told the class. Ruby sighed as she accepted her copy of the worksheet. She turned to look at Cardin and saw he had just folded it up into a paper plane and threw it at Russel.

Before she could ask him anything, he said, "Look, I don't know why Schnee has a stick up her ass when it comes to you, just don't bother me. Fill out the peer review nicely and we'll never have to talk to each other again. Okay? Okay." Ruby shrunk in her seat and nodded. He slapped his paper on her desk and she flinched. When he grabbed her paper, he crumpled it in his hand. Ruby just let out another sigh as she started to fill out the paper.

She was no farther than halfway through it when she heard water steadily spilling onto the floor. She looked at where the sound came from and saw Cardin pouring his water bottle over her paper. "Hey!" she cried, taking the soaking paper off his desk. He snickered as the rest of the class turned their attention to the outburst. 

"Miss Rose! There better be a good explanation for you disrupting the class," Goodwitch scolded. Ruby turned to her with her wet paper outstretched in front of her.

"Cardin just dumped his water on my paper. It's ruined now." Ruby knew her skin was red, beyond flustered from both the attention on her and anger towards Cardin's actions.

The boy showed off his now empty water bottle and said, "My cap is broken. I didn't realize water was spilling out what it fell over." He leaned back in his chair with a shrug. 

"That's a lie, he dumped it on purpose," Ruby insisted. The teacher only held her hand up with a sigh. She sat again and lowered her head with a sigh, water dripping from her paper onto the floor. 

"I do not know what happened for certain because I was not watching. Miss Rose, is your work still legible?" Goodwitch was being surprisingly kind. Ruby shook her head as she felt tears of both anger and sadness prick at her eyes. She placed the paper on the desk and it landed in a soggy clump. "Why don't you place it on the heater to try and dry it out. Come back at the end of the day and if it's no use, I'll give you an extension on the deadline. As for you Winchester, I suggest you get to work." Both Ruby and Cardin nodded at her. She went back to work at her desk and class resumed with whispers around the class.

Ruby stood up to place her wet paper on the heater, contemplating if she should try ringing it out or not. Cardin just sneered at her as she walked by. Once she got back to her desk, Ruby pulled out another piece of paper. She knew there was no way her paper would be salvaged. There was no point in not getting a head start on it. She tried her best to write what she could remember from her paper, but stopped after she couldn't get past her opening line. Taking out her folder, she put her paper away. Erasing the original lies she had put for Cardin's peer review, she answered it honestly and handed it in. She did her best to look menacing as she glared at him. He only laughed at her.

The bell rang and Ruby grabbed her stuff, walking out of the room with her head hung low. Penny and Blake both walked up to her. They each placed a hand on her shoulder with concerned looks on their faces. "I'm fine guys, really. It's just a stupid paper," she insisted with a small smile. Blake sighed as she looked at her while Penny gave her shoulder a squeeze. They walked down the hall together until Blake had to leave to go to her locker. Penny and Ruby stopped at the latter's locker together, Penny waiting patiently for her friend to drop her things off before they could head to lunch.

"Weiss was quite upset when Cardin ruined your work," she said after Ruby shut her locker. She walked across the hall to get to hers, leaving Ruby standing still with a confused look on her face.

Her brain took a second to compute before she ran after her. "What did she say?" she asked, curious to what the white-haired girl thought about what happened.

"She said it was not right for him to be bothering you, especially after you've done nothing to bother anyone else," Penny told her as she grabbed her lunch box from the shelf on her locker. She shut the door and turned to head to the cafeteria.

"Is that all she said?" Ruby asked as she followed her. They made the turn around the hallway, narrowly missing running into a group of students who glared at them.

"I believe her exact words were, I don't understand why he messes with her. Ruby is so thoughtful and doesn't even bother anyone. When I suggested to her that he most likely picks on you because you are an easy target, she just sighed and said she wished you weren't. Her exact words then were, I know. I wish she wasn't." Penny turned and smiled at Ruby before walking into the lunchroom. Ruby followed after her, deep in thought.

'I wonder why she cares so much?'

"Hey Ruby," Velvet said, startling the younger girl. 

She smiled at her and said, "Hey Velvet. What's up?" The older girl grabbed her arm and dragged her off to the lunch line.

"So," she started, speaking slow. Ruby waited patiently for her to keep talking, a noticeable blush growing on her cheeks. "Coco asked me if I wanted to go to the petting zoo with her this weekend. And I said yes. And I think it's a date. And I don't know what to do." 

Ruby smiled at her friend and gave her a hug. "That's amazing, I'm sure you'll have so much fun." She grabbed two lunch trays and handed one to Velvet. The older girl sighed and looked over her shoulder at the fashionista's table with a blush

"I just, what do I do if she tries to make a move on me or something?" she asked nervously. Ruby ordered a turkey sandwich and Velvet picked up a salad and fruit from the lunch lady. "What if I embarrass myself and she thinks I'm weird? Maybe we were better as just friends."

"Velvet, look at yourself. You're a complete catch. Any girl would be lucky to have you and Coco knows that. This isn't something new that happened out of the blue. Coco has been asking you to hang out and go out with her for a while. She's interested in you and I know you like her back so what' the worst that could happen? As long as you be yourself, you'll be fine. I promise," Ruby said in an attempt to reassure her friend. From the little she knew about Coco, the girl seemed to do whatever she wanted without a care about what other people thought. 'That's probably why she isn't embarrassed by asking out someone who isn't as popular as she is,' Ruby thought as the two girls made their way to their lunch table.

"You're right. I know you're right. I just, I'm nervous is all," Velvet said as they sat down. Her eyes were trained in front of her, a light blush on her face. Ruby looked over her shoulder to see Coco staring at them, or rather, Velvet with a small smile on her face. She had never seen the girl look so, soft before. She smiled and turned back to Velvet who was hiding behind her hair.

"You'll be great together. I know it." The girl smiled at her and happily handed her the strawberries she picked up. Ruby lit up with joy and accepted them with a grin. An arm was thrown over her shoulder as she went to take a bite of one, causing her to bite her lip in the process. "Ow!" she complained as she turned to look at Yang, completely unamused. A bead of blood formed at her lip and she dabbed it away with a napkin.

"Sorry sis," Yang said as she saw the small cut. She reached for Ruby's tray and took half of her sandwich, taking a large bite of it. If anyone looked at her it would seem like she was perfectly normal, but Ruby could tell that wasn't the case.

"Why aren't you talking to Blake? Don't you normally spend a few minutes talking with her before coming here?" she asked, picking up the other half of her lunch.

"Not any more," she said after finishing her half of the sandwich in another bite. The girls and Jaune shared a look.

"Did something happen between you two?" Penny asked. "I thought you guys were close."

Yang smiled at everyone and said, "Nothing happened. I just came up with the brilliant idea of playing hard to get. If she wants me, she can come get me." Ruby rolled her eyes at her sister's plan. 

She reached across the table and stole Jaune's juice pouch as the boy stared at the blonde in confusion. "It sounds like you're just giving her a break from your constant flirting," he said, reaching for the juice that was no longer there. He looked at Ruby with a pout and she giggled at him.

Yang shrugged and leaned over Ruby to grab a bag of peanuts from Penny's lunch box. The girl offered her a clementine to go with it, but she shook her head. "Well, my original plan wasn't working. I have to try something different."

"What made you decide on doing that?" Ruby asked before taking another bite of her food. 

"Neptune compared me to him when I brought up asking Blake out so I decided I needed to back off a little." The blonde shook in disgust before looking over her shoulder. The rest of the table followed her gaze and found Blake reading and eating an apple at the same time. "I don't think she even noticed," she said sadly. 

Ruby patted her sister on the back as she leaned her head on her shoulder. Yang rested her head on top of hers with a sigh. "Don't worry, I'm sure she did," Velvet said with a smile, trying her best to be supportive. 

"Yeah, I guess. I'm gonna talk to Yatsuhashi. Apparently we're gonna be doing new drills during practice so I wanna see if he knows what they are. I'll see you after school Rubes," Yang said as she got up from the table. Everyone waved to her as she left. Jaune tried to take back his juice pouch, but Ruby picked it up and finished it without even noticing. He sighed until Penny handed him a tiny water bottle with a smile.

Bio was spent in silence as Ruby and Weiss worked in tandem to get their project done. Weiss had focused on completing the punnett squares and writing down the genotypes and phenotypes for her and Ruby's "child" while the other girl started to draw what it would look like. Ruby was doing her best to make sure the little girl would look realistic, knowing that Ozpin wouldn't give them more points for it being better drawn than others, but still wanting to make it look nice anyway.

"Here's the completed list," Weiss told her as she slid a paper across the table. 

"Thank you," Ruby said as she looked at it. She read what the cheerleader wrote to make sure it matched what she was drawing. "How can we both be heterozygous dominant and have two different hair colors?" she asked when she noticed Weiss had stated their child would have white hair.

Weiss pointed to the punnett square as she explained. "My mother's hair is naturally white, but my father naturally has black hair. My siblings and I all have white hair so technically I'm homozygous dominant for two completely different traits. I figured it would make more sense visually if I made my genotype heterozygous. My white hair would beat any trait whether it's dominant or recessive." Ruby nodded as she spoke and went to erase where she had started to color in the hair of their child.

"That's kinda cool," she said. "I know it's not the same thing, but Yang is kinda like that in a different way. Her mom has black hair and red eyes which is normally dominant, but our dad had blonde hair and blue eyes and she took after him. She looks more like Raven though so I guess she has a mix of both of them in her."

"I wasn't aware you and Yang were related," Weiss said as she leaned on the table, her elbows propping her up as she fiddled with her pen.

"Most people aren't. We don't exactly look alike, not to mention we're in two different worlds. She's a jock, I'm a nerd. She has lots of friends, I have like five at the most." She stopped her talking as she concentrated on drawing for a moment.

"I wouldn't say that," Weiss said as she went quiet. "Even if you don't consider lots of people to be your friends, there are people who are still nice to you and care about you." Ruby stared into her eyes, keen on hearing every word she said. The older girl just looked at her pen as she started to speak again. "Blake was extremely concerned for you yesterday. I know it probably has something to do with her and Yang being close, but still. You have your own charm to you that makes you... you, for a lack of a better word. You may not have as many friends as your sister, but I'd count you lucky. Those close to you truly care about you."

Ruby stared at the girl in awe, a small blush forming on her cheeks. She turned back to the paper in front of her so she wouldn't get caught staring. "Well um, I, um, I'm amazed you're able to be the girl everyone can look up to. I'm, uh um," she cleared her throat as she noticed Weiss lift her head to look at her out of the corner of her eye. "I can't imagine the amount of pressure that must be on you. I know it can't be easy having to be miss perfect all the time."

"It's not," the girl whispered. Ruby looked up and stared into her eyes. Weiss looked completely open, almost as if she was waiting for her to say something else about her. They stared at each other for a moment until Weiss's eyes trailed to her mouth. "What happened to your lip?" she asked when she saw the small cut. 

Ruby rolled her eyes and turned back to her work, whatever moment they just had over. "Stupid Yang. I was trying to eat some strawberries and she bumped into me so I accidently bit myself. I'll be fine as long as I don't mess with it," she said. She heard Weiss hum in agreement. She looked up at the clock and saw how much time was left in the period. Only twenty minutes. "I think I'll need the whole class tomorrow to finish it if I don't have time to work on this at home, but I should. I'll have it done by Friday for sure though."

"That sounds fine. I'm sure you'll do a good job on it. I don't have nearly as good artistic skills as you do," Weiss told her. Ruby wasn't sure if she was complimenting her or just stating a fact, so she nodded as she kept focusing on the drawing. A silence came over them as Ruby worked and Weiss watched her. At one point she reached around for the pink colored pencil she was going to use for the lips when Weiss handed it to her. "Thanks," she said as she accepted it with a smile before turning back to her work.

"You're welcome," the white-haired girl said quietly. Ruby could feel her eyes on her as she worked and tried her best to keep a blush off her face, glad her hair was long enough to cover her face. Ruby reached for the red next, only to have it handed to her. When she looked up at Weiss to thank her again, the older girl said, "I know Cardin messed up your paper on purpose and I can't help but feel like it's my fault. If you're willing, I'd be up to helping you write your essay."

"You would?" Ruby asked. Weiss nodded before looking at the drawing Ruby had taken a break from working on. "But I wouldn't want to waste your time. I know you're busy and-"

"It's more than okay with me I assure you," she said in a rush. "Just let me know when you're free and-" The box of miscellaneous colored pencils the girl had on their table came crashing down on the floor as Cardin walked by. "Seriously Cardin?" Weiss asked, clearly angry as she stood up.

He shrugged. "Oops. My bad." The two got into a glaring match with Ruby in between them, cowering. 

"It's fine," she muttered as she got on her knees to clean up the mess. "Just leave us alone." He snickered as he walked away, obviously happy Ruby didn't put up a fight. She sighed as she grabbed handfuls of pencils and put them in the box. Weiss crouched beside her to help pick them up, a scowl on her face.

"What a dick," she muttered. Ruby shrugged as she quietly picked up the now full box. "Doesn't stuff like the bother you?" Weiss asked as they sat back down.

Ruby sighed as she looked at her. "Of course it does. I just don't see the point in trying to stop him. It will only cause more problems in the future. Pick your battles, am I right?" 

Weiss frowned at her and placed her hand on top of hers. "You shouldn't have to worry about causing more problems. You should be able to tell him to stop and he should. You don't deserve to deal with his bull-" The bell rang signaling the end of class. Weiss smiled at her and said, "I think you get my point." 

Ruby giggled at her and nodded. "Yeah, I think I do." They shared a smile before Coco walked up to Weiss.

"Ready to go ice queen?" the fashionista asked, a coffee in her hand somehow even though it was the end of the day and Ruby had watched her throw out her drink that morning in math.

Weiss scowled at her and said, "Don't call me ice queen." The girls walked out of the room together and Ruby watched them leave, packing her bag as she did. 

"Did she just touch you?" Jaune asked as he walked up to her. Ruby thought back to what had just happened. Weiss had touched her hand. On purpose. She blushed as she brought her hand to her chest and held it.

"She did," she whispered in amazement. Ruby turned to her friend with a smile and threw her arms around him, so excited she had to hug someone. Jaune, who was not Yang, and was not used to this behavior from Ruby, fell to the floor, bringing her with him. "Sorry," she said as they hit the ground. "I just saw the yellow and thought it was okay." The boy rolled his eyes. He rolled them again when Cardin walked by and kicked his foot.

"Pyrrha!" Ruby called to the older girl as she jogged over to her. She was stretching by the bleachers next to Blake who was reading a book. 

The redhead turned to her and Blake looked over the top of her book at her. "Hello," she said with a smile. "Is there something you need?" The much shorter girl stopped in front of the amazon and nodded.

"I wanted to tell you I was interested in trying out for the track team this spring. Oh, and I'll be staying after with Yang today." Ruby noticed Blake's eyes flick to her when she mentioned her sister, but paid more attention to the look of excitement on Pyrrha's face.

"That's wonderful Ruby. I could help get you on a proper diet and work out regime if you'd like so you can be in shape when it comes time for tryouts. Oh, this is going to be so much fun, I just know you'll love it. When should we get started?" the older girl asked. 

Ruby looked around with wide eyes before rubbing the back of her neck. "Umm, Monday maybe?"

"Sounds perfect," Pyrrha said with a smile. "Do you think any of your friends might be interested in trying out? Like the blonde boy?"

Ruby thought for a moment before saying, "Um, sports aren't really Jaune's thing. He's more into videogames and swords for some reason. I could ask him about it if you'd like." 

Pyrrha shook her head and said, "No, no. It's okay. I was just curious. Let me go tell Neon that she'll be having some competition this year. I'll see you tomorrow Ruby." The redhead waved to her and jogged off to talk to Neon. Ruby waved at her before going to sit on the bleachers. She chose a seat diagonal to where Blake was sitting, grabbing her water bottle as she searched for her sister. She saw Yang chasing after Sun with a smile before they both ended up tripping when Neptune stuck his foot out. Yang immediately got up and helped Sun to his feet and the two ran after Neptune who was laughing.

Ruby smirked as her sister walked up to her after Sun tackled Neptune. "Have fun out there?" she asked as she handed her the water bottle she was drinking from.

Yang drained the whole thing before handing it back to Ruby who pouted. "Fucking Neptune man. He can't play tag like a normal person. I scraped my knees because of him."

"That was tag?" she asked with a doubtful look. 

Yang just shrugged. "It's really just us tackling each other, but the teachers stay off our backs more if we say it was a rough game of tag." Sun called her name and waved to them. "I gotta go sis. Just head to the field after school. I'll see you later." Before she ran off, Ruby saw her eyes drift to where Blake was sitting. "Hey Blake," she said softly after she turned around. Yang ran off and Ruby rolled her eyes. 

'She's really playing hard to get,' she thought as she got up to recycle her bottle. When she sat back down, she noticed the dark haired girl had put her book down. She was instead watching Yang who was trying to get Yatsuhashi to tackle her. Ruby noticed her staring and smiled at her. 'This would be fun.' Turning to Blake she asked, "Penny for your thoughts?"

The girl, who seemed at first startled, smiled at her as she moved seats to be next to her. "I'm thinking that today was a lot more peaceful than others."

"Is that a good thing?" Ruby asked her as they both watched Yang struggle to push Yatsuhahi's giant body. 

Blake shrugged. "I'm not sure. I just noticed things were rather calm." They sat in a comfortable silence together. Yang was getting yelled at by the teacher for doing something that was most likely dangerous. "No pick up lines, no flirting. Not even a hey kitty," Blake said after a while. "At first I thought she didn't show up to school, but then I saw her in history and realized she hadn't come by my seat to talk before class." Ruby listened to everything the girl told her, doing her best to be patient. She knew what Yang was doing and it seemed like it was working. Blake eyed her for a moment before she asked, "Do you know what's going on."

Ruby shrugged as the teacher blew a whistle. Everyone got up or off the track to head inside. "She said she realized she might have just been bothering you and decided to be more respectful. I know Yang seems like a dumb blonde loud mouth jock who doesn't do anything but flirt or joke, but she's got a gentler side too. She just isn't sure how people would react to that side so she acts how she does. Don't get me wrong, she enjoys being loud and her hair is something she is so proud of, but she knows when she's being too much. I guess she liked you so much she didn't realize she was probably overwhelming you until now. I wouldn't think too much of it if I were you," she suggested, watching the gears turn in Blakes head. 

They walked into the locker room together where Blake said, "Thank you Ruby. That, helped clear up a few things."

Ruby saluted her with a grin. "Always happy to help," she said before going to change. When she took her gym shirt off, she looked in Blake's direction to see her eyeing Yang who was happily chatting with Nora. She smiled to herself and threw on the outfit she had come to school in before walking into the gym to wait for the bell to ring.

"Red!" Ruby turned around to see Coco walking up to her and waited for her. She awkwardly looked around as she came up to her. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna bite," she said after she took in the girl's nervous posture. "About the thing I was gonna ask you yesterday. I asked Velvet out on a date and she said yes. I wanted to know what types of places she likes to eat at. And if she likes flowers. Wait, no, every girl likes flowers. I, uh." The girl sighed and took her shades off to pinch the bridge of her nose. She took a deep breath and continued as Ruby stared at her in confusion. "Look, we both have a study in the library after this. Why don't I sit at your table and you can tell me about the different things Velvet likes?"

Ruby smiled once she realized what was going on and nodded. "Of course! She's super excited for this weekend. She told me about the date at lunch and started to freak out, but now I think she just can't wait for it." Coco smiled at her and seemed to look relieved.

"Good, that's good," she said. The bell rang and the two girls walked to the library together.

After spending the first half of her study telling Coco about the things Velvet liked, the girl had left after giving her an iced coffee for her time. Ruby had awkwardly accepted it and got to work on homework. She managed to finish her history and geometry assignments before the period ended, not even bothering to try working on her essay. She stopped by Goodwitch's class like she was told to, but the paper was in no better condition as it was when she left it. The woman gave her until Monday to get the essay done and Ruby thanked her before making her way to the football field.

It was weird walking through the completely empty halls. She walked past a few clubs as she made her way outside, but other than that, the whole school was quiet. She walked through the gym and exited the school through the open doors which allowed the students to move through the building and fields without having to wait for a teacher with a keycard. She walked to the bleachers to wait until Yang's practice was over. While the cheerleading team was the only one on the field at the time. Ruby knew it was only a matter of time until the football team showed up for practice. 

"We'll do three sets of one minute planks and three sets of ten burpees before a water break. Start, now!" Ruby looked up when she heard Weiss's voice. She had never been this close to the girl before when she was at practice. From where she sat, she could see the small quiver of her body as she struggled only momentarily to hold herself up. She could see the sweat start to form at her temples and her stomach clench as she tightened her abs. Ruby blushed after realizing she had been staring and dug through her backpack for her English folder.

She distracted herself by focusing on redoing her work. This time, when she finished writing her first paragraph, she took out her phone and snapped a picture of it in case something happened to the paper in her lap. She put it away and went back to writing, intent on getting as much of it as done as possible. "Would you like some help?" a voice asked from besides her. Ruby looked up to see Weiss standing next to her, water bottle in hand. 

She blushed and rubbed the back of her neck, trying desperately to ignore the sight of her abs that peeked out from the open stomach of her uniform. "Don't you have a practice to run?" she asked, drawing circles on her jeans to avoid looking at the white-haired girl.

She shook her head as she took a sip of water, her ponytail swishing behind her. "We have to cut practice short since the football team needs more time to practice for the game Friday. I told the girls they could head home early today." Ruby looked at the field to see that there were only a few linger girls from the cheer team still around.

"Oh. Sure I guess," she said with a slight smile. Weiss nodded and took a seat next to her, her leg pressing up against Ruby's. Her eyes scanned over the little the younger girl had written on the paper, taking sips of her drink in the process. Ruby took a sip of the iced coffee Coco had given her in hopes of distracting herself from the heat coming off of Weiss's body. The cheerleader gave her a weird look when she saw the drink. "Coco," was all she needed to say to get her to nod in understanding.

After a minute, Weiss asked, "Do you have your outline with you. And your annotated bibliography?" Ruby nodded and opened her folder, taking the papers she asked for out and handing them to her. Weiss placed her rough draft on her lap and held the other papers in each of her hands. A gust of wind sent the paper into the air and Ruby was quick to react, placing her hand on top of it and Weiss's thigh in the process. She blushed when she realized what she did and pulled her hand away from her as if it was on fire.

"Sorry," she muttered as she tried to look anywhere but the girl next to her.

Weiss just cleared her throat and said, "It's fine. I have some suggestions for you, if you'd like to hear them." Ruby nodded and she continued. "You work itself is good, I'll give you that. You're just missing a few things." Weiss placed the paper back in the younger girl's lap and leaned into her slightly as she pointed to the paper while explaining. "...And that will help your overall paper. Goodwitch isn't one for fancy words or dramatic endings. Just make sure to keep it short and sweet and you'll be fine." A whistle blew and both girls looked up to see the football team starting their practice.

"Thanks Weiss," Ruby told her with a smile. Weiss had to get home and Ruby didn't want to keep her any longer than she already had. 

"It was my pleasure. Your work was surprisingly pleasant to read. I hope this helped." The white-haired girl grabbed her belongings from next to her and stood to leave.

"It did for sure," Ruby said, standing as well. Weiss smiled at her and looked over her.

"Will you be okay in just that? It's supposed to get colder later and I'm not sure how long you'll be waiting out here. Practice tends to run long for these guys," she said as she looked back at the field. 

Ruby nodded as glanced at Yang as she caught a ball thrown to her by Neptune. "I'll be fine," she insisted. Weiss raised an eyebrow at her when another gust of wind blew and she had to stop herself from shivering.

"You can borrow my jacket if you want," she said with a shrug as she held out her letterman jacket to the younger girl. Ruby's eyes went wide and a small blush rose on her cheeks as she saw it. "I wouldn't mind really. I'd feel better knowing you had something keeping you warm."

Ruby looked between the girl and her jacket, mouth agape. "I, uh, I. I couldn't," she stuttered. 

Weiss placed it in her hand as she said, "You can give it to me tomorrow, just don't get it dirty. I'll see you then. Have a goodnight Ruby." She walked off with her bag and water bottle, leaving behind a dazed Ruby.

When she finally snapped back into reality, she called out, "Goodnight Weiss!" and waved to the girl. She smiled at her over her shoulder and continued her walk to the parking lot. Once she was out of sight, Ruby sat back down. She looked at the jacket in her hands and put it on with a blush. It fit her snugly. She lifted the sleeve up to her nose and took a sniff. It smelt like Weiss. Ruby smiled as she felt fuzzy inside.

"Hey Rubes!" Yang yelled as she ran over to her. Startled, she looked up at her sister, a blush on her face. "Nice jacket. Who gave it to you?"

"Um," Ruby looked around trying to avoid her sister's gaze. 

"Wait, oh my Oum. That's the ice queens jacket! How did you get her to give it to you?" Yang asked as she grabbed a water bottle.

Ruby blushed and buried her head in her hands. "She gave it to me. She told me she didn't want me to be cold when I was waiting for you to finish practice. She was just being nice."

"Nice Weiss, wow. Never thought I'd live to see the day. Are you any closer to getting in her pan-"

"Xiao Long! Back on the field!" Yang turned around with a frown and threw her water at Ruby.

"I'll ask to leave early, don't worry," she called to her as she ran to the field. Ruby rolled her eyes and put away her work. She pulled out her headphones and played her music. She closed her eyes and hugged herself, breathing in the scent of Weiss's vanilla shampoo.

Ruby looked at the different boxes of red dye. 'Should I get the store brand or real thing?' She pulled her wallet out of her pocket and checked to see how much money she had. 'Store brand it is.' She put away one of the boxes and walked off to go find Yang. She was still wearing Weiss's jacket. She considered taking it off when Yang started teasing her, but realized it was too cold. She peeked her head around the corner of the aisle and saw Yang at the register. She added her dye to the order and handed her sister the money she had to pay for it.

"Will that be all?" The lady asked them. Ruby and Yang both nodded. She paid for their items and grabbed their bags. "Have a nice night," she told them exasperated. 

Yang rolled her eyes as Ruby said, "You too!" They walked out of the store, Ruby holding three bags between her hands and Yang holding four. 

"Do you want help with your hair before or after dinner?" Yang asked as they started to walk home. The sun was getting close to setting and the air was much cooler than it was during the day. Few cars passed by, letting the sisters cross the street in peace.

"Before dinner. That way I can take a shower after and wash it all out." Yang nodded and stared up at the sky.

"It's pretty out. I wonder if Blake likes taking walks. I have the feeling she's a long walks at the beach type girl," she said with a sigh. 

Ruby smiled softly at her sister. "Why don't you ask her? Just because you're playing 'hard to get' doesn't mean you have to stop talking to her completely. Talk to her about her. Don't worry about flirting and worry about getting to know her better. I'm sure she'd like that." 

Yang nodded as she listened to her, clearly liking what she was hearing. "I see what you're saying. I get it. Okay! Starting tomorrow I'll talk to her without flirting. That doesn't sound so hard." Ruby smiled at her sister as she opened the front door to their house.

"Hey kids," Tai said from the kitchen. "Did you get everything we needed?" 

"Yup," Yang said as they placed the groceries on the kitchen counter. "Ruby and I are gonna be in the bathroom dying her hair. We'll be down in time for dinner." He nodded and started to put the food away as the two girls headed upstairs.

Ruby was careful to remove Weiss's jacket and place it gently on her bed. She changed into her dad's old shirt he gave her for when she would dye her hair and made her way to the bathroom where yang was already waiting for me. "I just want to do my tips like last time," she told her. "Could you put most of the color in the front and just do some in the back?"

"It would be my honor," Yang said in a deep voice. The girls laughed and Ruby took a seat on the bathroom counter. That night, Ruby went to bed with her newly colored hair and a smile on her face as her arms wrapped around Weiss's jacket.


	4. Not More Attention

Ruby woke up to the sound of her alarm. She rubbed her eyes as she got up to turn it off. She groaned getting out of bed and stretched as she made her way to her closet. Weiss's jacket was still on her bed, warm from being held against her body all night. Ruby looked at it with a fond smile on her face, still not fully believing the white-haired girl had given it to her. True it was only for one day and she expected it back today, but still. She had gone out of her way to make sure Ruby would be warm that night. As she dressed in her jeans that were torn at the knees from her falling so many times and grabbed her signature red hoodie to put on top of her shirt, she thought of what to do with the jacket.

Yang tended to where hers to school so Ruby couldn't just show up with a letterman in her hand that wasn't hers or her sister's. She put her pajama pants and sleeping shirt in her hamper before heading to the bathroom. She knocked on the door and said, "Hurry up in the-" The door opened in her face to reveal an already ready Yang. "Uhh, good morning?" 

"Morning Rubes!" Yang said with a grin as she walked downstairs. Ruby watched her walk off before walking into the bathroom with a shrug. She got ready as she thought of what she could do.

'I can always place her jacket in a bag and give it to her. Would she mind me just walking up to her with a bag?' Ruby felt her phone buzz in her pocket and took it out to check the notification. It was from Weiss.

'If you let me know what your locker number is, I can stop by this morning so you won't have to carry around my jacket all day. I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable with unwanted attention due to it.' Ruby smiled at how considerate she was.

She pulled up her keyboard and sent a message that read, 'My locker is 636. I should be at school in at least 15 minutes. I'll see you then :P' She put her phone back in her pocket as she left the bathroom. Grabbing Weiss's jacket from her room, she headed downstairs where Yang was talking to their dad. 

He noticed her walk in and asked, "Whose jacket is that?"

Ruby blushed as she took her normal seat and he placed a bowl of cereal and a cup of apple juice in front of her. "Um, it's Weiss's. She let me borrow it yesterday since I didn't bring a jacket and it was supposed to get colder. I'm gonna give it back to her today, but I want to do something nice for her."

"Give her a kiss," Yang said with a smirk. Ruby kicked her shin under the table as Tai tried to think of an idea.

"There are still some chocolate chip cookies that you made from this weekend left. You could give her some as a thank you," he said with a shrug, doubting his daughter would be willing to give up her treats. Instead Ruby shot up in her seat and ran into the kitchen.

"You're a genius dad!" she called out as she rummaged around for a container to put them in. She found the one she was looking for and reached into the cookie jar they had. They were still soft after so much time and Ruby smiled in success. She wasn't sure how many Weiss would like or if she would want to share with her friends, so she placed five in the container with a shrug. She walked back to the dining room table and picked up her bowl of cereal and just, consuming them both on her way to the sink. Yang followed behind her and both girls placed their empty dishes in the sink. They grabbed their shoes and put them on. Ruby gave Tai an extra hard hug that day and he smiled as he gave her a kiss on the head.

She placed Weiss's jacket on the crook of her arm as Yang hugged their dad. They walked out of the front door with a wave and goodbye. Before her sister could make fun of her, Ruby asked, "Do you think Blake will go to your game tomorrow?" She smirked at the blush that rose on Yang's cheeks.

Her sister rubbed the back of her neck as she shrugged. "She goes to most of the games, but I doubt it's for me. I think she's more about showing up for her friends which is fine. I'd just be happy to see her." Yang looked at her and asked, "Why? Did she mention something to you about me?"

Ruby shrugged as they waited at the stop sign, a car driving past. "I was just curious," she said, trying her best to conceal her smile. 

Yang squinted at her. "Are you being serious?" she asked skeptically. Ruby grinned at her before crossing the street, Yang following quickly behind her. They walked into school together and yang told her, "I'll see you at lunch sis," before walking off. She waved at her sister before turning to head to her own locker. Few people looked at her weirdly for carrying a letterman around, but no one made a big deal about it.

When she turned the corner, she could see Weiss standing at her locker, iced coffee in one hand and phone in the other. Ruby saw a smile pop up on her face as she read whatever was on her screen. The girl started to type and shortly after Ruby felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out with one hand and read the message. 'Take your time. I'm in no rush.' It was from Weiss. Ruby smiled and put her phone away as she walked up to the girl. 

"Hey Weiss!" she called out, causing the girl to look up at her with a smile. 

She quickly frowned as she looked over Ruby. As she got closer, she swore she heard the white-haired girl whisper, "She isn't wearing it."

"I have your jacket," she told her as she held it out to her. Weiss accepted it with a smile.

"And I have a coffee for you. Coco insisted I bring it to you. Something about you helping her out with Velvet," the cheerleader said as she passed her the cup.

"I'll have to make sure to thank her," Ruby said as she thought out loud before shaking her head. "That reminds me. I brought you something." She shrugged her bag off her shoulder and opened it up to get to the cookies she had placed in the top of her bag. "I made them a few days ago and figured you might like some. I figured it would be a nicer thank you than just saying, well thank you."

Weiss's eyes widened as Ruby passed her the container. She looked at the floor and Ruby couldn't see her face, but she said, "Thank you Ruby. That was really sweet of you." 

Ruby just shrugged as she opened her locker and started to get the books she needed for the day. "You've been so nice to me I figured it was the least I can do. I'll see you later, right?" Ruby looked at her to see Weiss nod.

They made eye contact and the girl smiled at her. "Yeah, I'll see you later. I, um, I like the hair," she said, her hand ghosting over the red on Ruby's head. 

She walked off after that and Ruby waved to her as she said, "Uh, thanks!" By then more people were looking at her in shock. Why was the Weiss Schnee talking to her of all people? As more people started to whisper about her, Ruby started to feel nervous and uncomfortable. 

She hurriedly grabbed her bag and was going to head to geometry when she heard a voice call out, "Yo Ruby! Wait up!" She turned around to see Sun running towards her and smiled at him. The boy caught up to her and threw his arm over her shoulders as they walked to class.

"Hey Sun," she said with a small smile, bringing the coffee up to her lips. "What's up?" she asked before taking a sip. The drink was full of sugar and tasted amazing. Ruby wondered how Coco knew what she would like.

"Not much, just wanted to check on my favorite nerd. There's been talk that Cardin has been bothering you. I wanted to know how you were dealing with it." Nora walked by them in the hallway and Sun gave her a high five as she got closer. Ruby didn't say anything as she shrugged under his arm. He sighed before looking around the hallway and leaning closer to her. "I'll tell you what little dude," he whispered when no one was around. "If he gives you any trouble just say the words, pink panties to him and that should get him to shut up. I have some dirt on him about... well that stuff so he shouldn't do anything to you."

"Thanks Sun," she said, uncertain about what he was telling her. He grinned at her as they walked into Oobleck's class. They walked to the back of the room where Sun finally took his arm off her shoulders when they walked to their separate seats. When Ruby sat down, she noticed Coco staring at her with a smile.

"I see you like the drink," she said, motioning her cup to clink against Ruby's. "I had a feeling you were an iced coffee type of girl."

"Um, thank you for it by the way. Weiss gave it to me at my locker-"

"I know," she said with a wave of her free hand. "I was the one who encouraged her to go find you this morning. I told her the drink would get cold if you didn't get it soon and she immediately took out her phone to text you." She laughed at herself while Ruby stared at her in confusion. "Oum, it was hilarious." 

The sound of writing filled the classroom and everyone turned to see Professor Oobleck writing on the board. Ruby sighed as she reached into her bag for her homework from the night before. As she paid attention in class, she missed the glances Coco sent her way.

Ruby tapped her pencil on the desk as she thought. "Stop that," Goodwitch told her as she tried to focus on the annotations she was grading. Ruby winced and kept her pencil still. The professor had made her drag a student desk next to her big one so Ruby could focus when she was writing. The girl would have preferred to sit in her normal seat, but complied. A few kids had snickered and laughed before they shut up when Weiss glared each of them down. The notes the girl had written on Ruby's outline had helped her write the majority of her paper. She was just stuck with how to reword her thesis for her conclusion paragraph and couldn't come up with anything.

With a sigh she looked up. Penny was rereading Hamlet, having already finished her essay, but being too shy to hand it in first. There was an unspoken rule the Weiss would hand in the work first, followed by either Blake or Penny. The girl her sister was crushing on was fixing whatever she thought was wrong with her essay, the eraser in her hand proof of that. She put it down and picked up her pencil, writing quickly on her paper. Ruby looked back down at her own paper. Her neck started to hurt from craning it so she rubbed it as she rolled her head around. 

Her gaze landed on Weiss. The girl was staring at her and Ruby watched her cheeks turn red as she looked at her desk really fast. She tilted her head, confused about what had just happened. "Focus Miss Rose," Goodwitch scolded. Ruby turned back to her work as she sunk lower in her seat. 

She started drawing lines on her paper to pretend like she was working as she thought. 'Was she staring at me? And... did she blush?' Ruby felt her cheeks heat up at the prospect that Weiss blushed because of her. 'If only that was possible.' She started shaking her head, hoping her gay thoughts would leave if she shook them out. When her head hurt, she stopped and decided to get to work. 'No fancy words. Keep it short and sweet,' she said in her head as she leaned over her paper and started to actually work.

When she finished writing, she looked up at the clock to see there was five minutes left in the period. She smiled until Goodwitch asked, "Are you done?"

Ruby nodded and cleared her throat. "Uhh, yeah." The woman nodded and grabbed the paper off of her desk. 

"Very good. I'll read this during my break and return it to you by tomorrow so you can revise it during the weekend." Her paper was placed on top of others kept on the woman's desk.

"Um, thanks?" she said, unsure of what to do until the end of the period. She heard heels clacking and turned to see Weiss walk up to the combined desks. She put her essay into the homework bin and smiled as Ruby softly as she walked back to her desk. 

Goodwitch noticed the submission and said, "If anyone else has finished, they can hand in their papers early." No one moved except Penny who quickly deposited her work on top of Weiss's with a smile. The bell rang and everyone got up to head to lunch. Penny waited for Ruby as she pushed the desk back into place, the girl apologizing at the screeching noise it made sliding against the floor.

The two walked out of the room together afterwards. They started walking to their lockers when Penny said, "I really like your hair Ruby. It looks very nice on you." 

Ruby smiled at her and grabbed the red part of her hair. "Thanks Penny. My mom used to dye her hair this way and I dunno, I guess I kinda stole her look."

The redhead nodded as they stopped at the shorter girl's locker. "You two do look very similar. Nearly identical. I'm sure if she was here, people would call you twins." Ruby smiled at her friend as she shut the door to her locker.

"I think you're right," she said as they made their way across the hall to Penny's locker. "You were adopted right? That's why you don't look like your dad?" she asked as she saw a picture of Penny and her father in her locker. 

"Affirmative," she said as she pulled her lunch box out and closed the door. The two began the walk to the cafeteria as Penny told her the story of her childhood. "General Ironwood had found me as a little girl during one of his missions and brought me back to Atlas. Dad was the only one with the same blood type as me. He saved my life and thought of me as his own ever since. We moved here to let life settle down after he retired. And then I met you!" 

Ruby smiled at the memory. She and Yang had been walking to school when they saw Penny standing in the road, looking confused as she read the street signs. Ruby had run up to her and pushed her out of the way of a car that was in a rush and somehow didn't notice the girl. That day, Ruby made her first friend that wasn't her sister or a skinny blonde boy who had vomited on her shoes the first day of middle school. 

The two girls walked into the lunchroom where Ruby went off to find Velvet so they could get lunch together. She spotted the girl talking to Coco who was leaning against her regular table. She froze in the middle of the room, unsure of whether or not she should walk up to the table. Her decision was made up for her when Coco saw her and called out, "Red, get over here." She obliged and walked to stand awkwardly next to Velvet. "I like the hair," she said, using her shades to motion to the red. "It suits you."

"Um, thank you," Ruby said as she looked at her feet. She felt a hand on her elbow and looked up to see Velvet smiling at her.

"Thanks for the offer Coco, but I think Ruby and I are gonna get our lunches and sit with our friends. I'll see you in class," the girl said. She planted a kiss on the fashionista's cheek before tugging Ruby to the lunch line. She looked over her shoulder to see a startled look and bright red blush on Coco's face as her friend made oohing and aweing sounds around her. She looked back at Velvet to see the girl completely red, but smiling.

Ruby smirked at her as she picked up two trays for them. "Looks like someone just made the first move," she joked. 

"I didn't make the first move!" the girl insisted as she picked up her lunch. "Coco asked me out first."

Ruby tsked as she picked up peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "She did, but you were the one who kissed her first." 

Velvet rolled her eyes, the blush on her cheeks fading. "That doesn't count as a real kiss. A real kiss is the kiss on the lips. I kissed her cheek."

"A kiss is a kiss no matter where it is on the batter," Ruby said with a shrug as she walked to their table, a grin on her face.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Velvet asked as she followed her. 

They took their normal seats and Ruby started to peel the crust of her sandwich. "My dad used to say it when we were kids. In college he played baseball so I think it has something to do from those days." 

Velvet nodded as Jaune spoke up. "I used to play baseball in elementary school. I was in the little leagues." 

"I bet they'd place you right back there," Yang said as she marched up to the table. Ruby handed her the sandwich half that was free of crust to her and started to work on the other half. "You haven't grown one bit since then."

"Yes I have," he insisted, voice cracking in the process. The girls at the table laughed at him as he crossed his arms. 

"Are you still not talking to Blake?" Velvet asked as she opened up her salad.

Yang shook her head as she took a bite of her lunch. "I was never not talking to her. Just playing hard to get," she said around the food in her mouth. Ruby rolled her eyes. "And no, we're talking again. I got some advice from my dad and he said to flirt less and talk more. Focus on her interests and then only if the moment is right, use a pick up line." 

"I've never heard of the right time to use a pick up line," Jaune said as he gave her a deadpan look.

Ruby narrowed her eyes at her sister and said, "I told you the same thing yesterday."

Yang shrugged and plucked Jaune's juice pouch from near his lunch box. He pouted as she spoke. "Well yeah, but you didn't tell me anything about flirting."

"Because you don't need to flirt with someone to get them to like you. Does it look like Velvet flirted with Coco to get her attention?" Ruby asked as she motioned to the senior in front of her.

"No," Yang said with a roll of her eyes. "But Coco flirted with Velvet to get her attention."

"Only after talking to her like a normal person and getting to know her better." Ruby munched on her sandwich, licking the jelly that dripped onto to her finger.

"I already know her. We've been close since freshman year," Yang insisted, holding up three fingers to her.

Ruby held up three fingers to Yang and said, "Yeah, you got to know her freshman year. That was three years ago. Times change and I'm sure she has too. How can you even know she still likes the same things she did back then?" When Yang didn't have an answer for her, she said, "Exactly my point. Talk to her, fall for her again, and then try again to win her heart. You can't expect to win a game with old equipment or something. I don't know. I don't do sports, but you get what I mean." 

Yang huffed and threw her arm over Ruby's shoulders, pulling her closer to her. "Always so dramatic little sis. What am I to do with you?" 

"Thank me when this gets you a girlfriend," she said as she shoved the rest of her meal into her mouth. She leaned her head on Yang's shoulder as she chewed. She missed the sight of Yang rolling her eyes and the rest of the table laughing at her.

At the start of bio, Ruby had told Weiss she could do whatever homework she had for other classes. The girl had nodded at her and was currently writing in her planner as Ruby continued drawing. She had finished the sketching part of the drawing the day before and was working on coloring it to make everything seem realistic. Her hand started to cramp halfway through the period so she placed the color pencil she was using down to stretch out her hands. Her actions must have caught Weiss's attention because she could see her out of the corner of her eye, watching her as she cracked her knuckles and then flexed her fingers.

"Do your fingers hurt after all that?" the white-haired girl asked her, her eyes trained on Ruby's hands. 

Ruby shrugged as she picked up her colored pencil again. "Sometimes. Mostly what happens is my fingers will cramp from holding a pencil for so long and I just need to stretch them out and change either how I'm holding it or switch hands if I'm willing to do a worse job," she said with a grin. Weiss rolled her eyes at her with a small smile.

She placed her hand on Ruby's wrist and joked, "Well I can't afford you having cramped fingers, now can I? Why don't you take a small break and do something that doesn't involve your hands?"

"Like what?" Ruby asked, placing her pencil back down. "Breathing? Blinking?"

"Don't be a dolt," Weiss said with a smile. Ruby watched her stare at face intently for a moment, trying desperately to keep her blush under control. She must have done a bad job at it, Weiss's eyes flicking to her cheeks. "You look so pretty when you blush," she whispered so low, Ruby almost didn't hear her. She blushed ten times harder when she realized Weiss really said that and slapped her hands over her face. The white-haired girl must have realized what she said because a blush spread on her face too. "I'm sorry, I didn't know I said that out loud."

"It's fine," Ruby squeaked out. 'She thinks I'm pretty! Oh my Oum, what do I do?' She looked out from behind her hands and said, "You, you're really pretty too." She immediately looked away from the girl, not sure she could handle whatever her reaction would be. 

"Thank you Ruby," the girl whispered. Ruby just picked up her pencil and started to color again. They sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes, the only sound heard between them the scratching of Ruby's coloring and drumming of Weiss's fingers on the table. Ruby still felt her heart beat fast, not believing what had happened, actually happened. She tried and failed to take glances at the cheerleader in secret, never catching more than a glimpse of her hair. "Will you be coming to the game this Friday?" Weiss asked after another minute of silence. "To support Yang of course," she added afterwards.

Ruby shrugged. "I don't usually go to any of her games unless my dad drags me out with him. Most of the time I hang out at Jaune's house and we play video games, but I'm not sure if we'll do that this week or not. We haven't had much time to talk," she said, looking over her shoulder. Jaune and Coco were both looking over their papers, something confusing the both of them as they tried filling out the worksheets. She looked back to see Weiss also looking at them before making eye contact with her. 

"Well if you're free, I think it would be nice if you came by, even for a few minutes. High school isn't going to last forever and soon enough these moments will be memories," the white-haired girl said as she picked up her pen and fiddled with it. 

Ruby smiled at her and said, "I guess I should start making good ones then. Like these." Though she tried to hide it with her hair, Ruby still managed to see a smile pop up on Weiss's face. 

"Yeah right you dunce," she said with a roll of her eyes. The bell rang and the girls packed up their things. As Coco and Jaune both made their way towards the red and white pair, Weiss looked her in the eye and said, "It would be nice knowing you're there. You're one of the few people I can tolerate and Oum knows Blake wouldn't pay attention to anything but her book. And Pyrrha, she's too busy..." Her eyes drifted to the side and she trailed off. She sighed and turned back to Ruby. "With her own little thing." 

Coco walked up to the two just as Ruby said, "I, um, I can. I'll go. I'll, I'll be at the game." Ruby blushed at the look the fashionista gave her for her stuttering and stepped out of the way so the older girls could walk out of the room.

Weiss smiled at her before leaving and Ruby swore she could hear Coco say, "Looks like things went well for you," but wasn't sure because of the chatter from everyone else. She sighed and turned around to look for Jaune. She saw the boy talking to a flustered Pyrrha and shrugged, walking out of the room by herself.

"...And then she told me I looked pretty when I blush so I told her she's pretty too and oh my Oum, Yang it was so bad," Ruby ranted to her sister as they walked around the track. She had immediately pulled Yang off to the side once she had finished running her mile and unloaded everything that happened onto her. "And then she asked me to come to the game because she could tolerate me and said no one else would probably pay attention."

"Wow she can tolerate you," Yang said with a roll of her eyes. "She must really be head over heels for you then." Ruby punched her shoulder and she chuckled. "Sorry, sorry. Look I'll talk to Blake, Sun, or Coco about it. Whichever one I come across first. They all probably know the same thing. Speaking of the devil," she said they watched Sun get a piggy back ride from Neptune. 

Ruby stood where she was when Yang started to run off to them when someone shouted, "Yang." The sisters both looked over their shoulders and saw Blake waving for Yang to head over. 

Ruby watched a smile spring up and her sisters face as she changed direction and started to walk in Blake's direction. "Go get her dragon," she said while doing finger guns.

Yang looked at her in disgust and said, "Don't ever say those words to me again." Ruby shrugged as she walked off. When she realized she was just watching Yang and Blake from the distance like some creep, she started to walk to the bleachers. 

She didn't make it far before two people came up to her. The guy had his arms crossed as the girl came up directly in front of her. Nervous, Ruby asked, "Um, do I know you?"

The girl broke out into a smile. "No, but you will. I mean, I'll tell you my name during this conversation. It's Neon. I'm Neon. Pyrrha tells me you're trying out for the track team?" Ruby nodded, about to speak up. "No, too slow. You can't be slow if you're going to want to be on the team. What's your deal? Are you fast fast or normal fast? I'm fast fast, even faster on rollerblades. Do you skate? You're small enough. Not top heavy like blondie over there. Hey, how do you even know her? I remember when I called her that, top heavy not blondie. She got so angry. She was kinda pretty that way." 

Ruby stared wide eyed at Neon, completely lost. "Forget her," the guy said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "She's... easily excited. I'm Flynt, best trumpet player in the Beacon band."

"I'm Ruby, uhh student at the school," she said, still unsure about what was going on. Neon laughed at her and leaned her elbow on her shoulder.

"She's funny, you're funny. And kinda cute. I think. I like the hair," she said, running her fingers through the dyed ends of Ruby's hair.

Ruby blushed at the compliment and said, "Thanks... I like yours."

Neon ran her hand through her bangs as she pushed off Ruby and walked around to Flynt who had his arms crossed again. "Thanks kid. I did this at three in the morning when I was having an ADHD, caffeine fueled crisis. It turned out great, I know." Ruby tried to put on a fake smile and laughed uncomfortably. "Right, we came here for a reason. You. Red. Ruby. That's your name right?" Ruby nodded. "Good, I'll try to remember. You better be prepared for tryouts. Ilia and I are the only ones who aren't guaranteed a spot on the team, besides whatever freshmen and sophomores are trying out. If you do better than one of us, you can take our place. But you won't do better than me. Maybe Ilia. I'm not sure. I haven't seen you run yet. And I know she's only doing this to impress the dark haired girl. I don't know, she's weird. I wanna go talk to her. Let's go Flynt."

Ruby watched the pair walk off again with wide eyes. Flynt had given her a salute as they left and she sent a small wave his way. 'What just happened?' she asked herself. She rubbed the back of her neck as she looked around. Neon and Flynt were already halfway around the track, talking to who Ruby assumed was Ilia. She glanced at Yang and saw her happily chatting away with Blake. She watched the girl's amber eyes look around, landing on something before jumping to Ruby. She waved at her and saw Blake smile at her as she waved back.

Just as she was going to walk up to her and Yang, the whistle blew. She sighed and started to walk back to the school.

When she walked out of the locker room, she expected to be able to head to the library in peace. Instead, a hand was placed on her shoulder and she turned to see Blake smiling at her. "Hey Ruby," she said softly as the two started walking down the hall together. 

"Hey Blake," she greeted with a smile. "What's up?" The girl shrugged and put her hands into her pockets. 

"I was just wondering if your family did anything together during the weekends." Ruby glanced at the girl with a confused look.

She thought if they had anything planned and said, "I don't think so. Nothing besides Yang's game, but that's Friday night so I don't think it counts. Why do-"

"Thank you. I was just curious. I'll see you tomorrow," Blake said in a hurry, ruffling up Ruby's hair as she walked away. Ruby ran her fingers through her hair as she attempted to fix it. She watched Blake disappear in a swarm of people and shrugged before turning to get to the library. 

"I just need to know how tall you are and how much you weigh before I decide what work out plan I should make for you," Pyrrha told Ruby as they walked home from school.

After her conversation with Neon, she was starting to have second thoughts, but at the same time didn't want to disappoint her friend. "Um, do you really think I'd be able to make the team? I talked with Neon today. Unfortunately. I think. I don't know, but the whole thing was weird. I'm just not sure if I'm track team material anymore."

The older girl frowned and put her hand on Ruby's shoulder. "You're perfect for the team Ruby. I promise, once you get some training in and start eating healthy, you'll know it's right for you." 

Ruby smiled at her, feeling slightly better. "I guess. I just don't want to upset anyone if I accidently take their spot on the team." 

"You won't accidently take anyone's spot. If you get on the team there's a reason for that. No one can be mad at you for being better than them. Especially if you put in the effort." The two girls stopped at the stop sign and Pyrrha gave her a smile. "I'll text you about everything later. See you tomorrow," she said with a wave. 

Ruby waved back as she crossed the street. She made her way home and opened the door. She kicked her shoes off when she noticed her dad's things weren't there. Pulling out her phone, she texted her dad, 'Where are you? I'm home.' She made her way to her room where she threw her bag on her bad as she waited for her dad to respond. She pulled out her bio folder and took out her drawing for the class. 

Her phone buzzed and Ruby looked at it. It was her dad. 'Meeting ran late at the school. I won't be home until later. You can start on dinner if you want.' 

'Okay. I love you dad' Ruby put her phone down and grabbed the box of colored pencils she kept in a drawer of her desk. "If I focus, I can get this done in half an hour and then start on dinner," she told herself, determined. Her phone buzzed again. Assuming it was her dad, she ignored it and went to work. She didn't pick up her phone until she was in the middle of cooking dinner.

She read the message on her lock screen from her Uncle Qrow. 'I'm coming into town in a few weeks kiddo. Clean up a room for me. I'm not sharing with Tai anymore.' Ruby smiled at the message and texted him back to let him know she was on it.

Her dad and Yang came home a little while later, a hot meal of mac and cheese and hot dogs waiting for them. Tai looked less than thrilled when he saw the dinner, but Yang smiled and dug right in. The family spent quality time together before Yang had to work on homework. She went up to her room and Ruby and their dad made their way to the living room. He picked up the remote and turned on the television. 

"What do you want to watch?" he asked as he sat down, pulling his work bag onto the couch. 

Ruby plopped her head onto his lap as she laid on the couch. "Whatever you want. I finished all my homework at school so we could watch a movie if you want," she said, turning on her side to face the screen.

"Movie it is," he said, rubbing her shoulder. He put on some random action thriller and settled back in his seat. He pulled out his students' work to grade as the movie began. They were only a few minutes into the movie when Ruby turned to lay on her back, facing the ceiling. She sighed and her dad looked at her. "You okay there sweetie?" he asked, his eyes turning back to the paper he was grading.

Ruby ran a hand through her hair as she said, "There's a girl I like, but I'm not sure if she likes me back. She called me pretty today."

"Wow, it seems like both you and your sister are having trouble with the ladies. Do you need some of your old man's advice too?" he asked as he put his papers down. Ruby nodded and looked up at him. "Well, from what I can tell, she thinks you're pretty."

"Dad!" Ruby complained as she hit his shoulder. He laughed and tickled her side until she said, "Stop, stop. Please." He ceased his attack and looked down at her with a smile. "But seriously. How do I get her to notice me? She's not exactly someone I can just tell her I like. I'm not even sure if she likes girls." 

"The best way to find out is to just ask, but I'm guessing that is something you just can't do. I have an idea. You said you wanted to go to Yang's game Friday and I know it's not to watch your sister. Now, I have a feeling a certain girl asked you to go. Why don't you wear her favorite color to the game to see how she reacts," he suggested with a shrug.

Ruby considered his suggestion. "I don't think I have any blue," she said as she ran her hand through her hair again. Her dad picked up his work again with a shrug. She turned back to the tv as she thought. 'It's not the worst idea.' They spent the night watching the movie until Ruby eventually drifted off to sleep. Tai smiled at his daughter and gave her a kiss on the head as he draped a blanket over her.


	5. The Big Game

Ruby heard her alarm going off and rolled around to find it so she can turn it off. She landed on the floor with a thump and groaned. "Ugghh, what?" She sat up and grabbed her phone off the couch, turning off her alarm. She looked around and saw she was in her living room, not her bed. 

"Morning sweetie," Tai said, sticking his head around the corner. 

Ruby yawned and stretched as she stood up. "What am I doing down here?" she asked, picking up her phone and the blanket from off the floor.

Her dad walked back into the kitchen when he spoke. "You fell asleep down here last night and I wasn't gonna risk throwing out my back to get you upstairs. You slept well enough, if the drool stain on my couch says anything." Ruby wiped at her cheek and felt it was wet. She grimaced and threw the blanket on top of the spot he mentioned.

"Oh, I'm gonna get ready for school then," she told him as she began to walk upstairs. She saw the lights on in the bathroom and headed to her room. She changed into a pair of jeans that were folded on her bed and looked around for a shirt. She spotted a black longs sleeve shirt sticking out of her closet as she was putting on deodorant and put it on. Running her hands through her hair, she walked out of her room. The bathroom was recently vacated, Ruby hearing Yang talking to their dad downstairs.

She quickly brushed her teeth before heading downstairs. Her dad placed a plate of pancakes and cup of apple juice in front of her with a smile. "Special breakfast for game day!" he said as he sat down to start his own meal. 

"Do you think you guys will win?" Ruby asked before stuffing her first pancake into her mouth. 

Yang shrugged as she chewed. "I hope so. If not coach will run us through harder practices. Blake said she wanted to tell me something before the game later," she said before taking a sip of her drink. 

"So she's coming?" Ruby asked. Her sister nodded before digging back into her food. "Would it be weird if I stayed with her. I don't know who else is going."

Yang got up to put her dishes in the sink and Ruby followed after her, syrup on her hands and face. "Sure, but she might not be any fun to hang out with. She always brings a book to the games so she never really pays attention to anything." 

Ruby washed her hands as Yang walked back into the dining room. "Better than being alone," she said to herself with a shrug. She dried her hands and made sure her face wasn't sticky before going to get her shoes. Putting them on and grabbing her bag, she waited for Yang to be done hugging their dad and gave him a hug after her. They walked out of the door with a goodbye and made their way to school, both girls excited to see the one they've been pinning for.

Ruby groaned, her head flat against her desk as Penny rubbed her back. "It is not that bad," the redhead tried to say comfortingly. Ruby gave her a deadpan look and she said, "It is only a little bad." Ruby propped her head up on her elbow as she looked over her paper again. Goodwitch had gone all out when reviewing her essay. She pointed out everything from a missing comma to a capital letter that looked too small. The whole paper, front and back, was covered in the professor's red marker, leaving Ruby wondering what she did so badly.

"I know I rushed to write it because I was behind, but seriously. Look at this, she even told me I wrote my name wrong. Well, in the wrong place, but still. Penny," Ruby whined. The girl just kept rubbing her back in an attempt to soothe the younger girl. "I don't want to have to rewrite this whole thing again. That would be like, my third time doing that. Ugh." Ruby hit her head against her desk again.

"But it will only make your paper better if you follow her suggestions," Penny said, removing her hand from Ruby's back to pick up her paper and look over it. "That would get you a better grade that way."

"Well that's easy for you to say. You only had to write your paper once. I've had to write it twice and it looks like a third time, maybe even four by the time we write our final drafts. Besides, what's the point of doing all that work for one summative grade? I already have a ninety six in this class." Penny didn't say anything so Ruby looked up to see what she was doing. "What is it?" she asked, sitting up again.

Penny shook her head as she pointed to the paper. "Nothing, it's just that the majority of your body paragraphs have no red marks besides spelling or grammatical errors while your introduction and conclusion are... a mess."

Ruby looked over her paper again and saw what Penny was saying. "Well that makes sense," she said after a moment of thinking. "Weiss helped me come up with what to write for that stuff, but not my conclusion or intro. I'll have to tell her she helped me when I see her later," she said as she looked to the front of the room where Weiss was talking to Blake, who for once, didn't have a book in her hand. The dark haired girl even seemed to be participating in the conversation, talking and nodding along to what the cheerleader was saying. 

Penny nodded as she stood, the bell ringing just as she did. "Perhaps she will explain to you the benefits of fixing your paper better than I have."

"They're just recommended suggestions," Ruby told her as they walked out of the room together. The redhead laughed at her when they walked to their lockers. "Do you think you'll go to the game tonight?" she asked. 

"No. My father and I always make it a point to go to the movies together on Friday nights to see a rom com together. It is always nice to be able to laugh and relax at the same time," she said with a smile. The two stopped at Ruby's locker as she put her things away before heading across the hall to Penny's.

"That sounds like fun. On Saturday, dad insists we have a game night, but we always just end up watching tv together instead." Both girls walked to the lunchroom together and separated when Ruby saw Velvet. She was talking to Coco again at her table and instead of waiting awkwardly to the side, Ruby just went to stand by her side. 

Coco saw her and smiled at her. "Hey Red. How was math this morning? I missed it cause of stupid traffic." 

Ruby rubbed the back of her neck, still uncomfortable talking to someone so popular, but much less than before. "Um, good I guess. Oobleck didn't give any homework for the weekend and just let us do what we wanted after the test. Oh, and we had a test."

Coco nodded at her words and stroked her chin. "I see. Well, if I can avoid him seeing me, then I can take the test Monday." She was talking more to herself than anyone else, but Ruby still nodded along to her words anyway. She and Velvet were just about to head to the lunch line when an arm was thrown over Ruby's shoulder.

"Hey Ruby," Sun said with a bright grin. Neptune was behind him, standing with his arms crossed as he looked at her.

"Hey Sun," she said with a smile. Part of her was unsettled by the way Neptune was looking at her, but she tried her best to ignore him. "Are you ready for the game?" she asked him in an attempt to stall any awkward silence from forming.

"Oh for sure. We're gonna crush those guys from... I don't know who we're up against, but we're gonna crush them!" the blonde said as he took his arm off of Ruby to flex. She and Velvet giggled at him when Coco rolled her eyes.

"Only if we focus," Neptune said as he walked past the group. "Come on Sun." He walked away without even looking for his friend to follow him. Everyone shared a look before Sun shrugged and went after him.

"What was that about?" Ruby asked after the blonde boy had left. 

Coco sighed as she leaned against the lunch table. She kept her attention on Ruby as she spoke. "Neptune's been in a mood ever since Weiss told him off after he asked her to go out with him if he won the game. She's been tolerating his flirting a lot less recently and he's grumpy about it."

"Well good for her," Velvet said. "She doesn't need his constant nagging in her life anyway. Anyway, we should get going. I'll see you tomorrow Coco." She gave the taller girl a kiss on the cheek before grabbing Ruby's hand and dragging her off. Ruby looked over her shoulder to see Coco blushing and smiling at the sight of Velvet's retreating form.

"I wonder who the top will be," she heard Yang say. She turned around to see her sister waiting for the both of them at the back of the lunch line. Velvet blushed and took the tray Yang held out to her with a huff.

"What's a top?" Ruby asked as Yang handed her a tray. 

Both her sister and Velvet shared a look. "Don't you dare," the senior warned. 

Yang grinned and threw her arm around her sister. "You'll find out soon enough if things keep going good with the ice queen," She said as they took a step forward in the line. Ruby shrugged and reached for a slice of pizza, picking the biggest one and grabbing the container of fries that seemed to have the most in them. She and Velvet waited for Yang as she went to the freezer and grabbed a handful of ice creams for the table like she did every Friday. "I got you a cherry ice thing," she said as she placed the cold desserts on Ruby's tray, squishing her food. 

Ruby rolled her eyes but smiled at her sister anyway as they all sat down. She handed them to Jaune, Penny, Velvet, and Yang when she noticed an extra. "For Blake?" she asked, giving it to Yang. The blonde nodded as she started to eat Ruby's fries. 

"She said she wanted to talk to me after lunch. If she doesn't want it I'll have it," she said after swallowing the food in her mouth. Ruby nodded as she focused on splitting apart the slice of pizza as evenly as possible. "What?" she heard her sister ask. 

She looked up to see Yang looking at Velvet who had a smile on her face. "Oh nothing," she said with a shrug. Ruby herself shrugged and handed Yang half of the slice. Her sister accepted it with a thanks and finished it in two bites. Ruby watched her in awe as she took a small bite from her half. The group of friends enjoyed their meal together until the bell rang and they had to leave. 

"Good luck talking with Blake," Ruby told her sister with a wave as she and Velvet walked off to the art room. Yang grinned at her before walking out of view. Ruby turned back to Velvet and saw a smirk pop up on her face. "What is it?" she asked her.

The senior smiled at her and leaned close to whisper, "Blake might have mentioned something about asking a certain blonde out during history today." Ruby felt her jaw drop. She pointed over her shoulder where she last saw Yang before pointing to Velvet and then herself. The girl giggled and nodded. "She said that talking with you made her realize Yang wasn't just a loud dumb blonde jock or something like that."

"Oh my Oum," Ruby said excitedly. "This is awesome! Yang is going to be so happy!" She accidently bumped into someone when she wasn't looking and turned to apologize. "I'm so sor-"

"Watch it you brat," Cardin yelled at her. Ruby froze and backed into Velvet who immediately grabbed her arm. 

"Leave her alone," she threatened. He sneered at the both of them as they walked off. "Oum, I know hate is a strong word, but I swear I hate him. He used to bully me when I was just a sophomore. Don't let him scare you Ruby, it's not worth it and only feeds his ego."

Ruby nodded as they walked into the art room and took her seat. Halfway through the period, the teacher gave her back her flower assignment. "One hundred percent. You did amazing," she had said before walking back to her desk. Ruby had smiled proudly to herself and shuffled through her backpack for her art folder. When she realized she didn't have it, she asked to go to her locker to get it. "Be quick," was all the teacher said.

She left the classroom and started to her locker. She had just made a turn around the corner when she was roughly pushed into the lockers. She struggled to push the person off of her until she saw it was Cardin. "Let me go," she told him as his hands fisted her shirt. 

"Why should I? Huh? You never apologized for bumping into me back there," he said, pushing her further into the lockers. 

Ruby felt the knob used for putting in the locker's combination dig into her back and cried out in pain. "Sun told me about the pink panties!" she said when he pushed even harder. That seemed to startle Cardin because he took a step back and let go of her. She took deep breaths and put her hands on her knees. 

"That fucking twink," he said. Footsteps were heard in the hall and both Ruby and Cardin turned to see Ozpin walking down the hall. Cardin had gone up to the locker he had shoved Ruby into and started to put its combination in. Ruby just awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck and looked at the ground. Ozpin eyed the two of them before nodding in their direction and walking down the hallway. When he walked into a classroom, Ruby turned to Cardin so she could defend Sun when the edge of the locker door hit her in the eye. 

"Ow!" she cried as she stumbled back. Her hands went up to cover her eye. She felt something wet on her hand and pulled it away to see blood.

"Shit," Cardin said as he saw her start to bleed. He slammed the locker shut which caught the attention of Ozpin who had just stepped out of the room he was in. 

"Miss Rose? Are you injured?" he asked as he walked over to them. Cardin tried to leave, but the principle and biology teacher said, "Stay there young man." When he got close enough, he saw the blood seeping between Ruby's fingers. "Mr. Winchester I want you waiting in my office while I take Miss Rose to the nurse."

"But I didn't do anything," Cardin insisted as he held his hands up. 

Before Ruby could expose his lie, Ozpin said, "Head wounds tend to bleed a lot more than any other injury. I would like to be able to escort Miss Rose to the nurse before she gets blood in my halls. Now, I will have to talk to you about what happened here, giving as you are a witness. So please, wait in my office for me." He didn't wait for Cardin to say anything that time and grabbed Ruby by her elbow to lead her to the nurse's office.

"Is that true?" Ruby asked once they were out of hearing range. "The head wound stuff?" 

Ozpin hummed before saying, "Yes it is. Our heart pumps our blood up to our brain. That's why a simple knick on the cheek or under your eye can cause lots of bleeding. I'm sure you will be fine. The worst thing that might happen is a small bruise." He stopped them outside the nurse's office and knocked on the door before walking in. 

The nurse saw them and asked, "What happened?" 

Ruby let her lead her to a chair and took her hand away from her eye so she could look at it. "Um, I got hit by a locker." 

The nurse nodded as she held up a piece of gauze to the small cut. "Hold this there," she instructed as she moved around the room. Ruby watched her before her attention landed on the empty door where Ozpin no longer stood. "Look at me. I'll give you an ice pack to use for when it starts to throb." While she was talking she had placed a bandage on Ruby's cut under her eye. The young girl nodded at the woman who pulled an ice pack out of the freezer she had and handed it to her.

"Can I go to class now?" she asked after she placed the cold ice on her eye.

The woman shook her head as she walked to her desk. "I need you to fill out a report about what happened. Would you like me to call a parent or guardian to let them know you were injured?" Ruby shook her head as the woman handed her a paper to fill out. She didn't need to worry her dad at work about something so small. The bell rang when she had written her name down and she sighed knowing she would be late to class.

By the time she was allowed to leave, the nurse had to give her a new ice pack since the first one had melted. Ruby thanked her when she left and walked to the art room to explain to the teacher what happened. She walked in the room, trying her best to not draw any attention to herself as she made her way to the teachers desk. She noticed Blake who was in the room give her a concerned look when she saw the ice pack. She smiled awkwardly at her so she'd know she was okay. 

The teacher saw her and said, "I was wondering why you didn't come back. Velvet took your things to your next class for you." Ruby just nodded and thanked her before leaving. As she made her way to her biology class, she wondered if Ozpin would count her absent. When she walked around corners, a part of her felt like Cardin was waiting to jump on her again, but every turn just revealed an empty hallway. She picked up her pace in hopes she wouldn't miss all of sixth period.

When she walked through the door, the first thing she saw was her bag on her table. The second was that both Cardin and Ozpin weren't there. The third was the concerned look Weiss was giving her as she walked up to her. "Ruby! What happened?" she asked as the younger girl sat next to her. "Are you okay?"

Ruby nodded and pulled the ice pack away from her face to show her the small bandage and bruise that was forming. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just um, ran into a locker. I can be really clumsy sometimes," she said, avoiding eye contact with the cheerleader. She felt a soft hand on her cheek and her eyes widened as she started at Weiss. The girl was biting her lip as she pushed Ruby's hair out of her face. 

"What type of dolt charges face first into a locker and gets a black eye from it?" she asked, a look of skepticism on her face. 

Ruby blushed and ran a hand through her hair after Weiss pulled hers away. "Well, um, I just, it was a tough locker and I, um, metal?" Weiss raised an eyebrow at her, her eyes drifting behind her. Ruby turned in her seat to see Ozpin and Cardin walk into the room. 

They stopped in front of her and Ozpin said, "Miss Rose, Cardin has something he'd like to say."

The boy crossed his arms as he looked at her. "I'm sorry you got hit by my locker," he said through gritted teeth. Ozpin put his hand on his shoulder and the boy shook it off, stalking towards his shared table with Pyrrha.

Ozpin sighed before walking to his desk. Ruby turned back to Weiss who was staring at her with an displeased look. "Oh yeah," she said nervously. "I forgot to mention it was Cardin's locker. And that he opened it on my face. Oops."

Weiss rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Of course, you just happened to forget the most important details of the story." Ruby shrugged as she pulled out her biology folder. She went to open it when Weiss put her hand on hers. She turned to look at the girl who was staring at her with a much softer look. "But seriously, are you okay? You're not hurt or anything?"

Ruby smiled at her and put her other hand on top of hers. "I'm fine, I promise. It only hurts a little and that's like a small throbbing pain that will go away soon enough. I hope." Weiss smiled at her and Ruby watched her cheeks become red as she stared into her eyes.

Weiss cleared her throat and tucked part of her bangs behind her ear. "Well, if you're sure you'll be okay, do you think you'd want to go to the-" 

"Ruby!" Jaune nearly yelled as he ran up to the two girls. Weiss glared at him with a blush on her face as Ruby turned to him with a surprised look. 

"What?" she asked as he grabbed her arm and pulled her out of her seat. 

"Coco and I need your help. We ruined our baby," he told her as he shoved her towards his and Coco's shared table. 

She snapped her fingers and pointed at Weiss, saying, "That reminds me. Our baby is in my folder. You can take it out and turn it in if you want." Weiss nodded at her and sighed as she reached for Ruby's folder.

"I will never have kids if they end up looking like this," Ruby heard Coco say as she sat in Jaune's seat. "He ruined her," the senior told her as she passed her the paper. 

Jaune rolled his eyes and said, "I ruined her? You're the one who insisted on giving her a stupid beret."

"Insult fashion one more time and I'll have you blacklisted from every coffee shop in a ten mile radius," Coco threatened as she pointed a finger at him.

"Okay let's not do that," Ruby said as she looked over the picture. It was a badly drawn little girl with brown hair and blue eyes and a black circle drawn over her head. Ruby looked at the clock and said, "I can draw something better than this but it won't be perfect."

Coco handed her a thing of colored pencils and said, "That's fine. Anything would be better than this pile of crap." Jaune scoffed at her and she shrugged while taking a sip of a latte. Ruby rolled her eyes as she got to work. She took ten minutes to give the pair a simple drawing that wasn't realistic, but better than what they had before. 

"Thank you Ruby," Jaune said once she finished. 

She smiled at him and Coco said, "You have been doing me a lot of favors recently Red. Here, have this." Ruby turned to her and accepted the ice coffee she pulled out of her backpack. 

"Thank you?" she said, extremely confused. Coco winked at her over her shades as she walked back towards her table. When she got back to her seat, she noticed Weiss looking at her picture from art. 

"I'm sorry for looking without your permission," she said as she sat down. "I saw it on top of your work when I went looking. This is... breathtaking." 

Ruby smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck, her eye starting to throb again. "Thanks Weiss. We were supposed to draw something with flowers that was sad so I chose Hanahaki Disease after, um, I got inspired." She pressed her ice pack against her eye again as the white-haired girl nodded. She saw the way her fingers traced over each petal softly and said, "You can have it if you want. My teacher already graded it."

"Really?" Weiss asked, looking up at her. Ruby nodded as she leaned her elbows on the table. The older girl smiled at her and said, "Thank you Ruby. That's really nice of you." Ruby shrugged as she took a sip of the drink Coco had given her. Weiss giggled as she rolled her eyes at her. When she calmed down, she looked over Ruby again and asked, "Will you still come to the game? With your eye and all."

Ruby nodded and said with a smile, "Oh for sure. It's not that bad and besides, you have to see the other guy." Both girls laughed at her joke, Ruby enjoying hearing the sound from the cheerleader. The bell rang and they both stood to leave.

As Coco walked up to Weiss, the white-haired girl put her hand on Ruby's bicep and said, "I hope you feel better." Ruby smiled at her, a small blush on her cheeks. 

The cheerleader was searching her face and about to move closer when Coco said, "Peppermint." The red and white pair turned their attention to the fashionista with confused looks on their faces. "You two remind me of a peppermint frappuccino I had around Christmas a few years ago. It was terrible, but I loved it and refuse to order it again. Anyway, let's get going ice queen, we have laps to run."

Coco walked out of the room and Weiss glared at her. "I told you not to call me that," she said as she followed her. Ruby watched them walk off before turning to wait for Jaune. She watched him walk past her, having an intense conversation with Pyrrha. Ruby scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion before shrugging and leaving the room.

Ruby was currently in her room trying to pick out an outfit for the game. She didn't own any blue and after scavenging through both Yang and her dad's closet only to find clothes that were too big on her, she was losing faith in her 'wear blue' plan. After being forced to sit out for gym and spending half the period telling Yang she didn't have to hurt anyone, begging her not to, she had decided to go through with the plan her dad had given her the night before.

"Can't you just wear what you're wearing now and say the blue part of your black eye is enough?" Yang asked from where she was lying on Ruby's bed. The two had come home together since there was no football practice Yang had to go to. Their dad was more than surprised to see his youngest daughter sporting a black eye, but after being told what happened, laughed and said Ruby should have given the locker a piece of her mind.

Ruby rolled her eyes before turning to her sister. "No. The point of this is for her to notice and react to seeing me in the color, not seeing me the color." She pushed Yang to the side of her bed and laid down next to her with a sigh.

Yang rolled her eyes and put an arm around her sister's shoulders as she said, "Well I don't think it matters if what you were telling me about her reaction in bio was true. She was already concerned when your face was a little red, now it's all black and blue and purple and disgusting. I'm sure she'll be even more worried now." Ruby turned on her side and hugged her sister, burying her face in her chest. She groaned and Yang chuckled, messing up her hair before hugging her closer to her.

Ruby started hitting her shoulders, screaming, "Air! Air! I need air!" Yang let her go with a laugh and Ruby rolled onto her back, gasping for air. "Ugh, you know you can be in a worse mood with me here. How can you be happy when I'm suffering?"

"You mean being overdramatic? Easy. I got asked out today and have a date with the one and only Blake Bellabooty and nothing is going to bring me down," she said with a grin.

Ruby got out of bed and started to recheck her drawers in case she missed something blue. "Call her that and I'm sure you'll get a second date," she said sarcastically. 

"Are you being sarcastic?" Yang asked, still smiling. Ruby smiled to herself, her back turned to her sister and shrugged. She heard Yang groan and get up. "Whatever, just hurry up. I have to get there early and dad is starting dinner soon," she said as she walked out of the room. Ruby sighed when she couldn't find any blue and made a note to herself to go shopping for something that color.

When she walked downstairs, her dad was serving the food. "Spaghetti and meatballs for me. Spaghetti and meatballs for Ruby. And spaghetti for Yang," her said as he put everyone's plates on the table. 

Ruby took her seat and accepted a glass of water Yang handed to her. "Why can't Yang have meat before a game again?" she asked before taking a sip of her drink. 

"I am not a science nor health teacher so I could not tell you, but from what I understand, it's too hard to digest or something. Do you have an answer Yang?" he asked as he took his seat.

She shrugged as she picked up her fork. "Your guess is better than mine," she said with a mouthful. 

"Okay then, dig in if you haven't," Tai said as he looked at Ruby who was slurping up pasta. She smiled at him and he laughed. The family enjoyed their meal as they talked about their days. "... And then little Adrian started crying because she wouldn't give him back his plane," Tai said as he thought back to his day.

"That little girl sounds like a bitch," Yang said as she leaned back in her chair, done with her meal.

"She is," he said with a sigh, leaning back himself. Ruby laughed as she picked up everyone's dishes and brought them to the sink.

Yang must have checked the time because from in the kitchen she heard her say, "Shit we're gonna be late. Come on Rubes!" Ruby put down the dishes she had in her hand before running to grab her red hoodie and shoes. She rushed to put them on as Yang hugged their dad. 

"Be safe and make sure to crush them," he told her before kissing her head. Yang smiled at him as Ruby ran into his arms for her hug and kiss on the head. 

"There's not a chance we'll lose," she said, punching her fist into her hand. The two sisters said their goodbyes and started to run to the school, Ruby beating Yang there. "I'm gonna go change. You can go find a seat in the bleachers if you want," she said. Ruby nodded and wished her luck as she ran off into the school. Turning to the field, she saw a few people wandering around. She spotted Blake sitting in the top corner of the bleachers, book in hand. With a smile, she walked over to the girl.

"Hey Blake," she said after marching up the steps. 

The dark haired girl smiled at her and patted the seat next to her. "Hi Ruby. How is your eye? And how are you feeling?" 

Ruby took a seat next to her with a shrug. "It's fine really. It only throbs a little sometimes, but I don't really notice it." Blake put a bookmark between the pages she was reading and put it down next to her. 

"I'm glad it doesn't hurt, but you didn't answer my other question. How are you feeling? Dealing with people like Cardin is difficult and you don't deserve it," the dark haired girl said as she placed a hand on Ruby's knee.

The younger girl sighed and leaned her head against the bars of the back of the bleachers. "He's a bully, I know, and I know I should stand up to him, but I really just don't care. I'm not the type for confrontations so it's better for me just to deal with it. I'm fine and happy and I have great friends and nothing will change that," she said, turning her head to look at Blake. 

The older girl was smiling at her softly. "You know Ruby, that's very big of you. Most people rant and rave about how other people make their life worse, but not you. That's very admirable." 

Ruby smiled at her and said, "Thanks Blake." The darker haired girl squeezed her knee before looking behind her. Her grip tightened on her leg so much, Ruby winced. "What is it?" she asked, putting her hand on top of the other girl's.

"Hey Blake," a sleazy voice from behind Ruby said. She turned around to see a man with red hair smiling down at Blake.

"Adam," she said harshly. Ruby looked between them uncomfortably, about to excuse herself until she saw an empty beer can crushed under the guys foot. 

"Long time no see darling. Why don't we get out of here and head back to my place, like old times?" he asked, making a move to grab her wrist.

Ruby watched as she flinched and stood up between them. "Look dude," she said as she got up in his face. "This is a school and you can't drink here. My friend and I are just trying to watch the game so why don't you leave us alone. We don't want any trouble." 

He chuckled, looking down at her with a sneer. "There won't be any trouble as long as she comes with me," he said, leaning down to be eye level with her.

She stood her ground and stared him in the eye, fist clenched until a voice from behind them said, "My girlfriend isn't going anywhere with you so why don't you back off man." Ruby looked over Adam's shoulder as he turned to find Yang glaring at him. She smiled and took a breath of relief. 

He growled at her, about to say something when Yang's football coach walked up to them. "What's going on here? Xiao Long, I need you on the field." The man noticed Adam and the beer can near his foot and said, "Young man, you cannot drink at a school zone. Leave before I have the cops called on you."

Adam glared at him before turning to Blake. "This isn't over," he told her before storming off. The coach followed him off of the bleachers and Yang went to follow him.

"Yang," Blake said. Both Ruby and Yang turned to her anyway. Ruby watched Blake jump into her sister's arms and give her a kiss on the cheek. "Good luck out there." Yang smiled at her as her coach yelled at her again and left them to get to the game. 

Ruby smirked when Blake walked back to her seat. She blushed at her and rolled her eyes. "You'd do the same if Weiss defended you from a crazy abusive ex."

Ruby blushed as she sat back down. "What- I, I don't know what you're talking about," she said as she held her hands out.

Blake laughed at her, covering her mouth with her hand. "It's okay Ruby, I'm not going to tell anyone," she said, trying to comfort the young girl.

"How did you know? Am I that obvious?" she asked as she slumped her head onto her hands only to wince as she hit her eye.

"Not too obvious. I just have an eye for those types of things." Ruby groaned as Blake rubbed her shoulder. A whistle blew and both girls turned their attention to the starting game. Blake cheered loudly for Yang during the game and Ruby clapped loudly for Weiss when she performed during halftime with the rest of the cheer team. At the end of the game, Beacon's team was down one touch down and only had a minute left in the game. Yang had managed to catch a pass and score a touchdown before the final whistle blew, ending the game.

Everyone from Beacon cheered out and Yang's team all rushed to celebrate, but the girl ran off the field and into the bleachers. She pushed Ruby out of the way, even as she protested and scooped Blake into her arms, kissing her deeply. Ruby gagged at the sight, but clapped along with everyone else around them. Once everyone had settled down and started to go home, Yang asked Blake to go home with them. She agreed to go over for a few hours at most and the two had walked off when Ruby was buying everyone hot dogs from the concession stand.

When Ruby got back with three hot dogs, she noticed her sister and Blake were gone. She frowned, looking at the food in her hand. "Ruby? Do you have food?" she heard someone ask. She turned around and saw Sun, Neptune, and Weiss walking up to her. She held out the hot dogs in front of her with a smile. "Ooo, gimme," Sun said as he snatched one from her hand. Ruby held out one to Neptune he took it with a small smile.

"See you Monday Rudy," he called over his shoulder as both boys walked off with waves.

"It's Ruby," she shouted after him. She sighed when he ignored her and turned to Weiss. "Wanna share it?" she asked the girl.

She shook her head. "No thank you, that's very nice of you, but I... ate before coming here," she said. Ruby shrugged and started eating the last remaining hot dog. Weiss smiled at her and the two started to walk off the field together.

"You were really good out there," Ruby told her once she finished eating. "You're definitely the best on the team."

Weiss rolled her eyes and said, "I am the team captain for a reason, but thank you for the praise." Ruby smiled at her before she noticed the girl shiver. Weiss was in nothing but her two piece uniform still, having not brought anything to change into after the game. Ruby frowned and the white-haired girl noticed. "What's wrong?" she asked as she hugged herself. 

Ruby shook her head as she grabbed the bottom of her hoodie. "It's nothing," she told her as she took it off. "You just seem cold." She shivered as the cool night air hit her now exposed skin. "Here, think of it as payback for your jacket," she told the girl as she handed it to her. Ruby watched her cheeks turn red as she accepted her hoodie.

"Thank you Ruby," she muttered as she put it on. The two made it to the parking lot and stood, looking at each other.

Ruby smiled and blushed as she saw her crush wearing her favorite sweatshirt. "It looks good on you," she said awkwardly, rubbing her neck as she looked at the sky. "Red's a nice color on you, that is." She looked back at the cheerleader to see her rubbing her fingers against the fabric. 

"It's soft," she whispered. A car honked and caught both girl's attention. Weiss sighed as she saw it. "That's my ride. I have to go." Ruby frowned as the girl started to walk away.

"W-wait!" she called out. Weiss turned to her only to be embraced by Ruby. Both girls blushed in each other's arms. "I'll see you Monday," Ruby said with a smile as they separated.

Weiss smiled at her with a nod and turned back around. She took a few steps forward before turning back to look at Ruby. "If you're free before then, maybe we can go to the arcade this weekend. Pyrrha mentioned it to me a while back and I figured it would be fun to go with someone." The girl stared at Weiss in shock, blushing. The cheerleader wasn't making eye contact with her, instead looking at the ground as she tucked a part of her bangs behind her ear.

"Yes, yes of course, I'd love to go with you," Ruby said excitedly.

The older girl smiled at her as the car honked at her. "It's a date then," she said, walking backwards to the car. Ruby smiled at her in awe and waved at the car as it drove off. 

"A date!" she whispered excitedly to herself. Ruby danced around in the parking lot until a couple walking by gave her a weird look. She cleared her throat awkwardly and started her walk back to her house. By the time she made it home, Blake had already left. Tai saw how happy his younger daughter looked when she walked through the front door and smiled. "I got a date!" she told him with a grin. She ran upstairs to find Yang, shouting through the house, "I got a date!"


	6. Arcade Date

The alarm went off in her room and Weiss turned it off with a smile. 'Today is the day,' she thought as she got out of bed. Pulling off the red hoodie that Ruby had given her the previous night, she made her way to her bathroom and turned on her shower. She brushed her teeth as she waited for the water to heat up. When she had gotten home last night, her family were already doing their own thing so she was able to get to her room with no one but Klein seeing her in red.

The mirror started to fog so she stepped into the shower, warm water washing over her. Weiss started humming to herself as she washed her hair, taking her time to lather every inch with soap before washing it out. Today she had planned to take Ruby on a date to the arcade and wanted to be ready for it. 'Pick her up, play games for a while, get lunch, get to know her, make sure you get her something either from a game or when we hand in tickets, ask her on another date, drop her off.' Weiss went over her plan mentally as she picked up her vanilla body wash and started to apply it.

By the time she got out of the shower, she was confident about how things would go down. As she got dressed, she considered wearing Ruby's sweatshirt, but decided against it. If she 'forgot' to bring it with her that meant she would be able to keep it for longer before she had to inevitably return it to the young Rose. She instead, dressed in a white fishnet stockings and a love sleeve baby blue dress. While she was in no way ashamed of her body and would have enjoyed the chance to show it off for the occasion, Weiss didn't want to worry about some guy coming up to flirt with her while she was with Ruby.

Her phone buzzed as she was putting her hair up in its signature ponytail. She picked it up after she secured her hair and read the message, heart pounding. 'So you're not as useless as you've been acting this week. Good to know. Velvet says Red likes chocolate chips and strawberries. She also says hi and is wishing you luck. She is so fucking cute Weiss, I don't know if I'll last through this date!' Weiss rolled her eyes at Coco's text. 

After getting home, she had texted both her and Blake to let them know she had finally had the guts to ask Ruby on a date. Blake had responded to her the night before, telling her she was happy for the white-haired girl and that Ruby was a wonderful person to be around. 'Just try not to molest her,' Weiss responded to her caffeine addict of a friend with a slight smile. 

Her response was immediate. 'Too late...' Sent after the message was a short video Coco had taken of her slapping Velvet's ass before the girl turned to her with a blush and knocked the camera out of her hand. Weiss rolled her eyes as she put her phone down and continued getting ready. She applied a light layer of make up and decided to wear strawberry flavored lip gloss.

'You never know what will happen,' she told herself as a justification for putting it on. She blushed at the prospect of kissing Ruby and pinched the bridge of her nose. She had first realized she may have had feelings for the younger girl her freshman year. Ruby had dyed her hair for the first time and Weiss couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked. Ever since then she had paid close attention to her and the things she did. She always made it a point to never get caught staring at her, concerned about what people would say if they saw her crushing over some nerd.

It wasn't until the two were paired together for their biology project when she stopped worrying about what other people might think of her. She had never had a conversation with Ruby up until that point and decided that if she treated her like she did every other kid in the school, no one would suspect her of harboring any feelings for the girl. That plan had immediately changed after first being next to the girl up close.

Ruby was kind and hardworking, as well as shy and nervous. She wasn't the exact girl Weiss had pictured herself ever falling for, expecting her type to be someone more like Blake, but there was something about her that pulled on her heartstrings and made her want to have her as her own. Seeing people push her around and try to take advantage of her kindness bothered Weiss to no extreme. When Cardin had decided to start bullying the younger girl, her first instinct was to kick his ass. Ruby deserved none of his shit and Weiss was going to make sure she didn't have to deal with him some way or another.

A buzz from her phone got her out of her head and she picked it up to read the message. 'Let me know what time you're coming to pick me up and I'll make sure to leave before Yang can tease either of us. I can't wait to see you :)' Weiss felt her heart race as she reread the text with a smile.

'Cute and thoughtful. Oum I have it bad,' she thought with a sigh as she got up. She told Ruby she could be at her house in ten minutes and rushed out of her room without waiting for a response. As she walked downstairs, Weiss thought about if it would be awkward having Klein drive them around or if she should just take her own car. Her decision was made up for her when Whitely walked past her when she made it downstairs with Klein in tow.

"I'll be using the butler for the day," he told her dismissively as he walked by. She rolled her eyes at him and waved at Klein as they left. As she grabbed her keys from her purse, her phone buzzed again in her hands and she looked at it with a giddy smile.

Her smile faded as she read the message and she had to resist the urge to scoff. It was Neptune. 'Hey snow angel, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the movies with me later. I know you've been in a bad mood lately and maybe a night out with me could change that.' After years of turning him down and dropping massive hints that she was a lesbian, the blue-haired boy still hadn't acknowledged that he had no chance with her. 

Smiling at the idea that sprang forth, she decided to message him back, saying, 'Sorry Neptune, but I have a date today.' She sent it with a smirk as she opened the door to her car. She put her phone on top of her center console and heard it start buzzing crazily. She rolled her eyes again before starting the drive to Ruby's house. As she got closer and closer to her house, Weiss started to feel nervous. 'What happens if she thinks this is a friend date? She is really close to Penny after all."

Weiss wasn't sure what type of relationship the two had. From what she had seen, Ruby was comfortable with the girl touching her and they seemed very close. When she and Penny were partnered together for the peer reviews, she had tried her best to inquire about her feelings for Ruby without being obvious. She had seemed to care very deeply for the younger girl, going as far as to describe her as the person who would be there for you through anything, but Weiss wasn't sure if she saw her in a romantic way or not.

'She said yes to this date, so that's something. Maybe they are just friends.' Weiss pulled into the driveway of the Rose-Xiao Long residence and pulled out her phone. Just as she was about to text the girl to alert her she was outside, Ruby burst through the front door followed quickly by Yang. She quickly unlocked the doors to her car so the younger girl could come in, but before Ruby could make it to the car, she was tackled to the ground by Yang.

Weiss winced as she saw the girl lie flat on her back as Yang danced over her. She turned her attention to the car and walked over with a big grin. The white-haired girl lowered the windows with a roll of her eyes when she knocked on them. "Hey ice queen," Yang said as she leaned through the window.

Weiss frowned at her. "Is she okay?" she asked after noticing Ruby hadn't gotten up from the ground yet. 

Yang fake pouted and asked, "What? Not even a hello? That's kinda rude." She looked over her shoulder and called to her sister, "Rubes, get up. Your girlfriend wants to get going already."

Weiss felt herself bristle and blush at the blonde's words. "She's not my girlfriend," she said through gritted teeth as Ruby got off the ground with a blush.

Yang rolled her eyes and opened the door for Ruby. As she climbed into the car, the jock said, "I mean not yet, but I'm sure you want to change that."

"Yang, leave us alone," Ruby said as she buckled up. "Go worry about your own date with Blake tonight." Weiss arched her eyebrow as both girls, unaware of the fact Blake and Yang were going out.

Yang closed the door and leaned through the window again. "Don't worry, I already got some Bellabooty last night and I know for a fact, she'll enjoy what we do tonight," she said with a wink. Ruby rolled her eyes and Weiss felt a look of discomfort cross her face.

"Get off my car before it catches something from you," she warned as she started the engine. Yang laughed at her and backed off before immediately sticking her head through the window again. 

She pointed between Weiss and Ruby rather harshly as she said, "I want you two to behave. I won't have my baby sister tainted by the hands of a Schnee." Weiss scoffed as a blush rose on her cheeks and she glanced at Ruby out of the corner of her eye to see her holding her head in her hands. She couldn't tell if there was a blush on her cheeks, but her face did look red.

"Have a good day Yang," she said in an attempt to be civil. The blonde pushed herself away from the car and waved at them as they drove off. Weiss saw Ruby wave back at her and smiled softly to herself. 'She's so fucking cute.' Weiss looked over at Ruby when they stopped at a stop sign. The girl was playing with her hands as she stared at them intently. Not wanting her to feel weird or scared in any way, she asked, "Did you have anything for breakfast this morning? I know a nice café we can stop at for something to eat if you're hungry."

Ruby looked at her with a smile and shook her head. "No it's okay. My dad made a fruit platter for Yang and I this morning because apparently he always had lucks on dates, I um, yeah, dates whenever he ate fruit in the morning." Weiss smiled at her as they started the drive again, glad the girl seemed less nervous. "Oh, I have to thank you," she said out of the blue when they drove past the school.

"For what?" she asked, eyes focused on the road.

"For helping me with my English essay. It... looks really bad, but that's only because Goodwitch went over it. Penny analyzed it and noticed that the parts you helped me with weren't as marked up as the rest of my work so I figured I'd thank you," the girl in the seat next to her explained.

Weiss smiled before frowning slightly. "Well I'm glad I could help. Penny seems quite intelligent from what I've seen," she said, keeping an eye on Ruby to get the girl's reaction.

She just nodded with a smile before saying, "Yeah, she was raised in Atlas around a bunch of scientists so she kinda just absorbed the need to learn more. It comes in handy when I need help with homework or something, but when it comes to talking about feelings, she's a little slow to that."

Weiss nodded with a hum, trying her best not to seem too interested in the conversation. "She still must be a great friend, I'm sure."

"Well duh, Penny is like my best friend. It probably goes her, Yang, then Jaune and Velvet are tied for third, and then Pyrrha." Weiss laughed at her assessment, secretly glad Ruby thought of Penny as only a friend. "What about you? Who's your best friend?" The question caught Weiss off guard. While many people considered her their friend, she wasn't sure how many she really had.

"That's difficult to answer. I'm not that close to that many people, but if I had to make a list, I would say I'm probably closest with Blake and Coco. Pyrrha is a good friend, she's very motherly and nurturing which is nice, but we aren't as close as I am with Coco and Blake." Her answer was honest and it scared her. Normally she would have lied to the person who asked and said she couldn't rate her friends, but this was Ruby and she didn't have to lie or hide anything from her.

She saw Ruby nod out of the corner of her eye when she parked in front of the arcade. "What about Neptune and Sun? And Nora and Ren?" the younger girl asked as she turned to look at her. 

Weiss shrugged as she unbuckled her seat belt. "Out of the four of them, I'd consider myself closest with Sun and Ren. Ren for obvious reasons, his calm nature and such, and Sun because it's just hard not to like him. Nora is just a huge ball of energy that I only tolerate dealing with if I have to." She sighed as she stared at Ruby, trying her best not to blush as she looked at her silver eyes. 'They're so beautiful. I could stare into them all night," she thought in awe.

"What about Neptune?" Ruby asked again.

Weiss frowned as she thought of the blue-haired boy. "He thinks he's all that and while he's not a bad guy, he's just so annoying. He has been asking me to go out with him for five years straight at this point and not once have I even shown the slightest interest in him. He can be nice and even someone I can rely on if I needed to, but his flirting just drives me insane." She watched Ruby nod as she spoke, appearing deep in thought.

"Maybe you just need to make it clear he should back off," Ruby suggested as they stepped out of the car. 

Weiss smiled at her and grabbed her hand. "I think I have," she said with a blush, looking away from the younger girl. She felt her hand get squeezed lightly and looked at her. Ruby was smiling at her with a light blush coating her cheeks. Weiss felt her heart clench in her chest and thought, 'I'll never survive this date if she keeps acting this cute.'

Weiss barely survived walking into the arcade with Ruby holding her hand. The girl had dragged her up to the front desk so they could purchase a card that would let them use all of the games. Ruby had offered to pay for her own card, but Weiss had shushed her and bought two cards with the max amount of game credits you could have on them which was three hundred. The second she had turned to hand the girl her card, she had jumped onto her and hugged her. Weiss had felt herself blush so hard, she thought she might get a nose bleed.

Luckily, she didn't and had managed to lightly pat her on the back before she let go of her with a blush and bright grin. That should have been an indication of what was to come, but Weiss was still unprepared for everything Ruby threw her way. Right after the hug, she had grabbed onto the cheerleader's hand and dragged her into the arcade, wanting to play a game of air hockey. After air hockey it was basketball. After basketball it was skee ball. After skee ball it was a shooting game. After the shooting game it was pinball. After pinball it was a driving game. After the driving game it was a dancing game.

Weiss was glad she had such a high stamina because she was panting by the time they had finished the game. 'Seeing her smile is worth it,' she thought as Ruby ran a hand through her hair as she waited for the tickets to come out of the dispenser. The girl grabbed them and turned to Weiss with a dazzling smile that left her heart pounding harder than it was before. The younger girl grabbed her hand and was about to pull her off to some other game when Weiss tugged her in her direction. "We should get something to eat," she told her as Ruby stared at her with a blush. 

"Okay," she had said with a nod, still blushing. Weiss had smiled at her and led them to the attached restaurant, still holding hands. The girls had been seated at a table and were waiting for their food to come, getting to know each other better to pass the time. "...And then he vomited on my shoes so that's why Yang and I call him vomit boy. Although, other people call him that too."

Weiss smiled at Ruby's tale of how she had met Jaune before taking a sip of water. "I have heard the nickname before. We don't know each other well, but there was a time in eight grade when he was infatuated with me. I remember walking to class only to have him serenade me at the door with poorly played guitar. It was, quite the experience," she said with a grimace as she thought back to the day. "I'm glad he outgrew it."

"I am too. Now you only have to deal with Neptune," Ruby said as she leaned forward on the table to grab her cup. She had ordered strawberry lemonade and chicken tenders which Weiss thought was adorable.

She nodded, swirling her straw in the drink causing the ice to clink together. "Hopefully not for much longer," she said quietly with a blush. She looked up through her bangs to see the younger girl blushing at her statement. Weiss watched her face, plainly staring at this point. Ruby's hair was still bright red at the tips, and her eye black from where she was hit. She had taken off the bandage given to her by the nurse and left the small cut exposed to the air. Weiss felt herself grow angry as she saw the bruise on the girl's face. 'What a dick,' she thought, wanting so badly to reach over the table and magically make it go away. 

"Do I have something on my face?" Ruby asked her after a minute, head tilted to the side.

'So cute.' Weiss smirked and brought her straw close to her lips. "A black eye," she said before taking a sip of her drink. She watched the girl across from her roll her eyes with a slight smile on her face. She felt herself giggle and boldly reached across the table to grab her hand. Both she and Ruby blushed at the contact and Weiss began to regret her actions, not knowing what to do next. 

She was saved from any more embarrassment when their server brought their food, giving both girls something else to focus on. When it came time to pay for their meal, Ruby had tried paying for it, but Weiss stopped her. "Please," she had asked when the older girl took out her wallet. "You've paid for everything already, let me."

Weiss shook her head and put her card with the check. "I'm the one who asked you on the date. It's only right I treat you," she insisted. She held onto the check book until the waiter had come by for it. 

She reached for her glass and took a sip of water as Ruby said, "Well if that's so, next time, I'm treating you." In her surprise, she accidentally choked on some water and was forced to cough so she could breathe.

"You want there to be a next time?" she asked once everything had passed. Her face was red and she could see Ruby's was too.

The younger girl nodded slowly before saying, "Only if you want."

Weiss had smiled so hard her cheeks had started to hurt. "I'd love for there to be a next time," she said as she reached across the table to grab Ruby's hand. She had smiled at her so brightly, Weiss thought her vision would start to spot. Her card was given back to her and the two left the restaurant. Pulling out all of the tickets that they had won, Weiss handed them to Ruby and said, "Let's go cash these in for a prize and then I can drop you off at home if you'd like."

"Sounds like a plan," the girl said before dragging her over to the prize room. Ruby had fawned over a large nevermore stuffed animal and the two had just enough tickets to get it. Weiss felt her heart pound in her chest as she saw how Ruby's face lit up when the toy was handed to her. She had smiled at her and grabbed her hand as they walked out of the building. Before they could make it outside, Ruby had pulled her to the side, saying, "Wait, I want to do this before we go."

Weiss had rolled her eyes, expecting to see another game only to be greeted with the sight of a photo booth. She blushed as Ruby dragged her inside, using the remaining credits on the card to get it to work. She had pressed a few things on the screen before a countdown started. The younger girl had clutched the stuffed animal in her arms and was resting her head on top of it with a bright smile. Weiss stared at her for a moment with a soft smile when a flash filled the booth. She realized a picture had been taken and blushed, watching the countdown start again.

For the next picture, Ruby had made her hand into the shape of half a heart and made Weiss do the same. A flash filled the booth again and the countdown began anew. This time Ruby had scotched closer to her and laid her head on her shoulder with a small smile. When she did, Weiss herself bushed bright red and had to look away to keep her composure. The flash filled the booth and Weiss cursed herself, knowing her red face would be captured on camera. 

She thought that would be the last of the pictures, and stood to get out. Ruby had yanked her back into the seat and before she could scold her, kissed her cheek. Weiss was glad she was sitting, her knees weak at the sensation of her lips on her cheek. The booth flashed again and once it did, Ruby pulled away from her. It took every ounce of restraint in her to keep from burying her face in her hands and instead hold her hand out to the younger girl as she stood.

Ruby held her hand but remained seated as she waited for the pictures to come out. Once they did, she picked up both them and the stuffed animal with a smile before letting Weiss drag her away. By the time they had made it back to her car, Weiss only had a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Would you like to stay for a bit?" Ruby had asked her when she pulled into her driveway for the second time that day. During the ride to her house, both girls shared laughs and smiles as they thought back on the day they spent together. "I'm sure dad wouldn't mind you being over." 

Weiss felt her stomach turn. While she wasn't in any way afraid of Ruby's family, she wanted to make a good impression. About to say no because of her lack of preparation for the situation, she turned to Ruby and regretted it. The girl had stuck out her lip in a pout and made puppy dog eyes out of her already impossible to resist silver eyes. Weiss felt herself gulp as she bit her lip. "O-only for a few minutes. I, I have um, I have to make it home for dinner," she said, captivated by Ruby's eyes.

A smile spread on her face and she got out of the car with a cheer. Weiss followed her after attempting to get her heart to beat slower and failing. She locked her car before following Ruby up to her front door. The girl unlocked it and invited her inside. Her first impression of the house was that it was cozy. Not in the small, it's tiny and hot way, but in the warm, a family lives here way. "Dad," Ruby called out as she took her shoes off near the door. Weiss followed her lead and slipped out of her heels. 

"In the kitchen sweetie," she heard a man's voice call out. She followed Ruby through her house, feeling out of place. "How was your date?" the man she couldn't see yet asked. "Did you kiss her?" Weiss blushed bright red and could see red blossom on Ruby's cheeks. 

They walked into the kitchen together where she saw a tan, blonde man with blue eyes cooking something that smelt delicious on the stove. "Dad," Ruby said in a lower voice. He turned to her and looked surprised to see Weiss there. "I invited Weiss to stay over for a bit. Is that okay?" The man looked between the two with wide eyes before nodding.

"Yeah, yeah of course it's fine. Um, Yang isn't home yet so I'd say you have maybe an hour of peace until she bothers you guys. Dinner will be ready in thirty minutes if you'd like to stay Weiss. I'm making quesadillas," he said as he moved away from the stove to show the girls the meal he was in the middle of making.

Weiss felt herself shake her head out of habit and say, "That is very kind, but I'd hate to intrude." 

"Nonsense," he said as he turned his attention back to the food. "We'd love to have you dine with us. Isn't that right Ruby?" The younger girl nodded with a smile as she looked from her dad to Weiss.

The older girl felt herself blush under her gaze and caved in. "I suppose I can stay then," she said knowing her parents didn't care where she was as long as she got the best grades possible. She smiled when Ruby hugged her.

"We're gonna be in my room until dinner," she had announced as she dragged Weiss towards the stairs.

"Keep your door open missy," Ruby's father called after them. Weiss blushed and watched Ruby roll her eyes. When they made it up to her room, she did listen and kept her door open. Weiss looked around her room and took everything in. Her bed was made hastily if the wrinkled comforter meant anything and it appeared as if she was working on rewriting her essay before Weiss had come to get her. She walked over to her desk and picked up the paper Professor Goodwitch had gone over, looking over the mistakes she had caught.

"Would you like some help with this?" she asked, turning around to see Ruby staring at her sheepishly. 

"Yes please," she said as she rubbed the back of her neck. Weiss smiled and walked over to the bed where she sat down and patted the spot next to her. Ruby sat down next to her, leaving enough space between them so they wouldn't be touching. 

'Damnit Ruby,' Weiss thought, wanting to be able to touch the girl more. Thinking back to the time at practice, she placed the paper in the younger girl's lap and leaned close to her, shoulders brushing against each other as she pointed at it. "So your mistake for the intro where she said you needed to..." Weiss probably droned on for twenty minutes straight, explaining to Ruby why things on her paper were marked and at the same time, enjoying the warmth that came from her.

When she had finally finished explaining, the younger girl sighed and leaned her head against her shoulder. Weiss felt herself blush and go rigid at the same time. "I don't know what I'd do without your help," Ruby said after a minute. 

She turned her head to look the older girl in the eye and Weiss cleared her throat. "Probably get a decent, but worse grade," she said in an attempt to make her help seem like a small favor.

Ruby shook her head lightly and Weiss could see her cheeks turn red. She leaned closer to her and wrapped her arms around her waist, burying her face in her neck. "Thank you Weiss. This means a lot to me. I'm not good at asking for help and, just thank you."

Weiss blushed at both the girl's words and actions before wrapping her arms around her neck and holding onto her. "You're welcome," she had whispered, hoping that Ruby would understand that she would do anything she could to help the other girl. She felt her arms tighten around her and smiled, bringing her hand up to run through Ruby's hair. 'So soft,' she thought with a smile. 

The girl pulled away from her slightly so Weiss loosened her grip on her and let her separate from her. She missed her warmth but soon felt heat spread all over her body as the younger girl stared deeply into her eyes. She felt herself blush but willed herself to keep eye contact. After having such an amazing day with Ruby, she felt emboldened and slowly leaned forward, closing her eyes as she did. She felt Ruby's nose brush against hers, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Guess who's back?" a voice asked as it came up the stairs. Weiss pulled away from Ruby as fast as she could, face red and heart racing. It looked to her like the younger girl was experiencing the same thing she was, her face as red as the tips of her hair. The two stared at each other with wide eyes until Yang walked into the room. "How was your- oh, hey Weiss. I didn't know you were here," she said casually as she plopped herself on the bed between the two girls. She grabbed the stuffed nevermore and leaned back, swinging it around in the air as she pretended to make it fly.

Weiss cleared her throat, embarrassed by the fact she was nearly caught kissing Ruby. 'I almost kissed her.' The thought made her blush again, but she tried her best to remain professional. "I think I have to get going," she said when Yang showed no sign of leaving. Ruby frowned, but accepted her statement with a nod. The two girls walked to the door together and Ruby waited patiently as Weiss put her heels on. "I had a great time today," she told the younger girl once she was situated. 

"I did too," Ruby told her with a smile. She fished around in her pocket for a moment and pulled out the pictures from the photo booth. "Here, have this. I printed two copies so we could each have one." Weiss smiled at her as she accepted the strip of picture paper. She looked down at them and felt herself blush as she saw how cute Ruby looked in each of the pictures. When she got to the last one, her heart started to pound as she got an idea.

She placed her hand on the younger girl's cheek, lightly brushing her thumb over her cheekbone before leaning in and giving her a kiss on the cheek like she had planned on doing in biology the day before. She pulled back slowly and smiled at the blush she saw coat Ruby's cheeks. "Thank you," she told her softly before she turned and walked out of the front door. Ruby stood in the doorway watching her as she made her way safely to her car. 

Once she got in, the girl waved at her and Weiss waved back. She left her house with a smile and fast beating heart. When she stopped at the stop sign, she looked over the pictures again and bit her lip to contain her excitement. 

Weiss hummed happily to herself as she got ready for bed. She did it. She had actually gone on a date with the girl she had a crush on for nearly three years and it went well. And they had another one. While it wasn't planned yet, there was still a next time and that was all she was looking forward to. Her phone buzzed on her vanity so she picked it up to read the message. 'I'm glad to hear things went so well for you two. Yang and I went to the bookstore and she bought me some books before we went back to my place to watch a movie. She's much sweeter when it's just the two of us and no one else is around.' 

Weiss smiled at Blake's text, happy things were going good for her too. 'I'm glad to hear she isn't a brute all of the time. Did you know she refers to you as "Bellabooty" to Ruby? Her much younger, little sister may I remind you.' She smiled as she saw the bubbles of Blake typing pop up, excited to hear what the girl thought of the highly inappropriate nickname.

'Of course she calls me that.' Weiss could practically hear the sigh and visualize the rolled eyes through her message.

She giggled as she clicked out of her messages with the dark haired girl to check the rest of her text. She had thirteen from Neptune that she didn't feel like answering and a few from Coco she would answer in the morning, knowing that the girl was already asleep by now. For someone who drinks so much coffee, the fashionista had a knack for going to bed early. She clicked on the one contact that made her heart flutter at the sight of and opened it up. 

She and Ruby had been texting earlier about how her dad had been disappointed she couldn't stay for dinner, going as far as to send her a selfie of the whole family together. Yang had a quesadilla in her mouth and one in her hand as she threw a peace sign up at the camera. Their father had one in his mouth and traced a fake tear down his cheek, a smile hidden behind the food. Her favorite part of the picture was Ruby who was winking at the camera with a quesadilla in hand.

Bringing up her keyboard, she wrote, 'I'm heading off to bed. I had a wonderful time with you today and I can't wait to see you Monday. Goodnight Ruby.' She put her phone down as she quickly tugged her hair out of its ponytail and grabbed Ruby's sweatshirt to wear to bed. Her phone buzzed as she had it over her head, and she smiled as she pulled it all the way over her body. 

'I can't wait either. Goodnight Weiss <3' The cheerleader felt herself blush at the cuteness of Ruby's message and smiled at it. She plugged her phone in as she made her way to her bed. When she started to drift off to sleep, she noticed how sore her cheeks were from spending the day smiling. The scent of roses filled her lungs and brought her to a field of flowers where she dreamed of a white rose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weiss is the gay that can drive and do math, but not cook. Ruby is the gay that can cook and do math, but not drive. No gay can posses all three skills.
> 
> Bruh, I am mad proud of my skills. Today I had a 4 page essay due that I didn't start until today and my grandma came to visit and I still got this chapter done. I'm a beast.


	7. Time to See Her Again

Ruby smiled to herself as she walked through the halls. She had been in an amazing mood since Friday night and after the successful date Saturday, an even better one. Weiss had taken an actual interest in her and had agreed to go on a second date with her. 'And she tried to kiss me,' she thought with a blush as she walked into math. Of course when she told her dad and sister about her date, she left out that part. While her dad probably would have been supportive, there was no way Yang would ever let her get off without extreme teasing.

As she sat in her desk, an iced coffee and large chocolate chip cookie was placed in front of her. She turned to look at Coco with wide eyes. "Uhh-"

"Cheers Red," Coco said as she held her drink out. Ruby grabbed hers and clicked it against hers, taking a sip in confusion. "Today we celebrate." Ruby leaned forward in her seat and looked at Sun and Neptune who were also sipping coffees and munching on pastries.

"I still don't know what we're celebrating, but free food," Sun said with a shrug. Neptune was eating a croissant, obviously in a bad mood. 

He picked up his cup and pointed at Coco, saying, "I don't understand how you can be so happy. Weiss hasn't answered any of my texts since Saturday and I think her phone got stolen."

Coco rolled her eyes as Ruby watched him with a confused look. "And what makes you say that blue boy?" the fashionista asked with a roll of her eyes.

Ruby took a bite of her cookie, unsure about whether or not she was being included in the conversation. "Because the last text she sent me, she told me she had a date and then never told me anything else. Obviously someone had her phone," he said, taking a long sip from his drink afterwards.

Confused, Ruby said, "But Weiss went out with me Saturday. She had her phone with her all day, we were just texting this morning." She watched a smirk appear on Coco's face, a grin on Sun's, and an equally as confused look as her own on Neptune's.

"And that is why we're celebrating," the senior said as she lifted her drink in the air. "Besides my obvious success with Velvet, little Red over here got herself a date with the ice queen. And a second one if what she told me was correct." Ruby blushed and nodded, a small smile breaking out on her lips.

"But that's a friend date," Neptune said, catching all of their attention.

Sun gave him an exasperated look and asked, "Dude, what even is a friend date?"

"You know, one where you get together with a person you're becoming closer friends with. Like a hang out," he said, trying to come up with a reason as to why Weiss didn't go on a real date with someone.

"If it was a 'friend date', which doesn't even exist mind you, Weiss would have just said that," Coco said as she pushed her shades further up her nose. "You're just being an idiot at this point Neptune." 

The boy pouted and was about to say something when Professor Oobleck appeared in front of them out of nowhere. "Miss Adel, I do not mind you bringing drinks to enjoy this class period, but I am afraid you and your friends can not eat in here." A glance was sent in Ruby's direction as she shoved a major section of the cookie into her mouth.

"But professor, I brought you something as well," Coco said, reaching into her bag to reveal a coffee that seemed to have six shots of espresso in it if Ruby read the label correctly.

Oobleck hummed as he accepted the drink. "Very well, but don't expect extra help on the homework. Also, you have a make up test to take today. I did not forget," he said, rushing up to the front of the room. Ruby watched Coco's eye twitch before she sighed.

Sun leaned back in his chair, saying, "I forgot about that. Good luck with it. I'm pretty sure I failed." Neptune rolled his eyes at his friend's nonchalance while Coco frowned. Ruby just finished the cookie she was given and turned her attention to the lesson. When she walked out of the room after the bell rang, an arm was thrown over her shoulder and she turned to Sun with a smile. "So," he asked with a grin. "How was your date with the ice queen?"

"Did she mention me at all when you guys were hanging out?" Neptune asked, coming up on the other side of her. Ruby knew for a fact that Neptune had his next class on the other side of the building, often hearing Yang tell her about English with him.

"Um, not really?" She tried her best to lie, not wanting or even knowing what to really tell him. He seemed to get upset by what she said, looking deep in thought as he stroked his chin. Sun shaking her reminded Ruby he had asked her a question too. "Oh and it was really nice. She brought me to the arcade and treated me to lunch. When we cashed out our tickets, she let me get this nevermore stuffed animal. Yang calls him nic-icle, like nice and icicle since Weiss got him for me technically. I haven't decided what to really name him yet."

They stopped outside her Spanish classroom, Neptune having left to get to his actual class once she finished telling him Weiss said nothing about him. Sun took his arm off of her, a grin still present on his face. "I'm glad you both had fun. I don't know how long she's had a thing for you, but for the last week, all anything Weiss wanted to talk about was you." Ruby blushed at the revelation and smiled at Sun. "Don't be afraid to make big moves. I know, she won't mind," he said, putting emphasis on the word know.

"I'll try my best," she said meekly as she thought of trying to make a move on Weiss. She had already kissed her on the cheek and they both had gotten embarrassed from it. She waved at Sun as he walked down the hall to get to his class.

Just as she was going to walk into her class, a voice from behind her called, "Ruby!" She turned around to see Blake and Weiss walking towards her, the latter having a blush and smile on her face. Ruby smiled and waited for them to walk up to her.

"Hey Blake. Weiss. What's up?" she asked, fiddling with her hands to avoid having to look at the cheerleader. 

She missed the smirk Blake had on her face as she looked between both girls. "Nothing," the dark haired girl said. "I was just wondering about how your date was. Weiss here won't tell me anything that happened." Ruby blushed and looked up at the white-haired girl through the corner of her eye. She was already staring at her with a blush on her face. They smiled at each other as Blake asked, "Did you two-" The bell cut her off and the group of girls rushed to get to their respective classes. Throughout the class, Ruby couldn't get the thought of the white-haired girl out of her mind.

English was terrible. All Ruby wanted to do was go up to the cheerleader and talk to her about their date. She was worried that it was, like Neptune said, a 'friend date' and that she had made her uncomfortable when she had kissed her cheek. "But she agreed to go on a second date with you and kissed you. Almost twice," Penny told her after she expressed her worries. 

Ruby blushed as she held her head in her arms. "I know, I know, but still. What if she didn't mean to and it was an accident?" she asked. She turned to look at Penny who had been writing her final draft of her essay to see her staring at her in confusion.

"It seems very unlikely to kiss a person on accident," she said before turning back to her work. Ruby rolled her eyes with a sigh as she looked at the front of the room. Weiss was doing her work, twirling her hair around her fingers as she did. As she did, the back of her neck was exposed for all to see.

'Looks so soft,' Ruby thought, picturing herself kissing that skin. She blushed at the thought and slammed her head against the desk, causing her eye to throb. "Ow," she whispered to herself. She was still waiting for Goodwitch to grade her rough draft before she could start her final draft. The professor told her she had until Wednesday like the rest of the class to hand in her essay, deeming her caught up enough to not need another day to work. Looking up, Ruby glanced at the woman's desk only to notice Cardin huffing as he wrote on his paper. Ever since the incident with her eye, he had left her alone for the majority of the day, even going as far as mumbling an apology when he bumped into her as she walked into the Spanish classroom earlier.

Movement caught her attention and Ruby turned to see Blake walking over to her with a ripped piece of paper in her hand. She slid it inconspicuously onto her desk as she walked past her to grab a tissue from the box that was in the back of the room. Goodwitch eyed her as she did, but said nothing once she headed back to her seat. Ruby shared a look with Penny before picking up the paper. 'Weiss likes ice skating if you need ideas for your next date ;)' was all that was on the paper. 

"I guess it was not an accident if Blake is helping you," Penny said as she read the note from her seat. Ruby went to hit her shoulder, only hurting her hand in the process.

She hissed in pain as the redhead smiled at her. "What are you? Made of metal?" she asked as she shook out her hand. The bell rang and both girls got up from their seats. Ruby looked to the front of the class to see Weiss watching her out of the corner or her eye as she walked to the door. The older girl smiled at her as she walked into the hallway and Ruby felt a smile pop up on her face as she saw it.

"She makes you happy," Penny observed as they walked out of the room together.

Ruby blushed as she nodded, about to speak when a soft voice said, "Ruby?" She turned and saw Weiss waiting for her in the hallway with a small blush as she played with her earrings. Ruby's eyes were drawn to them and noticed they were actual rubies.

"Yeah Weiss?" she asked, stepping out of the way so others can walk around them. She waved at Penny who walked off to get to her locker. Her attention turned back to the white-haired girl who had finished fiddling with her earrings and had grabbed her hand instead. 

"Walk with me to lunch?" she asked, still avoiding eye contact. Ruby smiled, a blush rising on her cheeks. 

Squeezing her hand, she held them up together and said, "Lead the way." Weiss smiled at her and tugged her in the direction of the lunchroom. She followed with a dumb grin on her face, heart pounding at the older girl's openness with displaying their... relationship? They had never defined what they were and Ruby didn't remember Weiss ever asking her to be her girlfriend. 'Does that mean we're still friends?' she wondered as they walked down the hall, hand in hand.

The strange looks she got from kids in the hallway made her want to disappear, not liking any of the attention she was getting. Weiss seemed to notice because she smiled at her softly and pulled her closer to her. "Just ignore everyone," she whispered in her ear. "Keep your eyes on me." Ruby blushed but nodded. As they walked she stared at Weiss. The girl exuded the confidence Ruby could only dream of having one day. If people had a problem with Ruby, a single look from Weiss would tell them to back off.

As they walked into the cafeteria, someone started clapping and both girls looked to see Coco applauding them. Ruby let go of the cheerleader's hand, but Weiss held onto her and dragged her over to the fashionista with a roll of her eyes. As they got closer, the senior lowered her hands and wrapped her arm around Velvet. "Hmm, I don't know who to congratulate here," she said with a grin. She lowered her shades, eyeing their conjoined hands.

"Oh shut up Adel," Weiss said as she dropped Ruby's hand and crossed her arms. Ruby didn't know what to do with her now free hand, so she started to drum her fingers against her thighs. She smiled softly at Velvet when she saw the girl looking at her with a smirk on her face.

"What? Am I not supposed to congratulate my dearest friend for getting a girlfriend?" the girl asked as she pushed her shades up on her face. Ruby blushed and looked at the ground, both embarrassed and excited to be called Weiss's girlfriend.

She peeked through the corner of her eye and saw the white-haired girl open her mouth, about to say something when a bright voice asked, "They're dating?" She turned around to see Nora stop behind them, holding hands with Ren.

"Congratulations," he said with a nod of his head.

Nora released his hand and jumped onto Ruby, her arms wrapping around her neck. "Oh my Oum, that is so exciting! Weiss has never had a girlfriend before. Or boyfriend. Or anyone really, but now she has you!" The redhead said as she pulled her closer to her. Ruby felt like she was being choked, but was too timid to say anything. She and Nora had never really had a conversation before then and the girl was already treating her like they were close friends.

"Ha ha," the cheerleader said sarcastically as she tugged Ruby out of Nora's grasp. Her hand was wrapped firmly around Ruby's wrist and she felt herself blushing. "Why don't you go hit something?" she asked the softball player, leaning down to be eye to eye with the energetic redhead.

Nora grinned and leaned even closer to Weiss. "Wow well aren't you mean. You must really like her then," she said, causing the white-haired girl to scoff and roll her eyes as she leaned back.

"Whatever," she mumbled before walking off, bringing Ruby with her. "Let's get something to eat." Ruby followed her, looking over her shoulder to see Velvet give Coco a quick kiss on the cheek before catching up to them. 

She smiled at her and picked up three trays, one for her, one for Velvet, and now, one for Weiss. The group of three moved to the end of the lunch line, a few people whispering at Weiss's presence around the two less popular girls. "So how was your date?" Velvet asked as they waited.

Ruby glanced at Weiss who was still holding onto her and saw the girl blush. "It went well," the cheerleader said with a small smile. "How did yours with Coco go?"

"Good," she said with a giggle. "I didn't think she'd be so handsy though." Ruby saw Weiss rolled her eyes with a smile and pulled her along in the line. She watched both Weiss and Velvet grab a salad and looked at the sloppy joe she was about to grab with a frown. She grabbed a salad and her frown grew. A smile from Weiss made her smile. 

"Do you want to sit by me?" the cheerleader asked as they walked to the tables. 

"Um," she said, uncertain. She glanced at Weiss's normal table to see Sun and Neptune sitting, the latter scanning around the cafeteria. His eyes landed on the girl next to her and his face lit up. "I think I'll sit with my friends today." 

The three stopped at the table and Weiss nodded. She placed her hand on Ruby's bicep as she said, "Okay. I'll see you in class." She placed a gentle kiss on her cheek and walked off, leaving Ruby a blushing mess as she collapsed into her seat. An explosion of whispers and murmurs flooded the room. The Weiss Schnee had just kissed some random nerd. Ruby hid her head in her hands, face so red she could have passed for a rose.

"Did I just see my baby sis gettin' some action?" Yang asked as she took a seat next to her sister. She reached over her to grab her lunch, disappointed when she saw the salad. "What the hell is this?" she asked, throwing it on the table.

"I was peer pressured," Ruby snappily said as she looked up again. Velvet giggled at her while Penny looked confused. A missing head of yellow hair caught her attention and she asked, "Where's Jaune?"

"I am not sure. He was not at the table when I got here," Penny said as she watched Yang reach into her lunch box for her bag of pretzels. 

"Do you think he's sick?" Yang asked as she opened the bag. As she put it down, Ruby tried taking a few only to have her hand slapped away by her sister. She huffed and opened her salad, realizing she hadn't grabbed a fork.

She frowned until one was produced in front of her by Velvet. "I think he's talking to Pyrrha," she said. "I saw the two in the halls together when I came here." Ruby nodded as she shrugged off her backpack, finally taking it off after not being to her locker. 

It fell to the ground with a thud and the floor yelped. "Ow ow ow." Yang, Ruby, and Penny turned over their shoulder to see Jaune and Pyrrha standing behind them, Jaune hopping as he held his foot. 

"Oops," Ruby said as he walked around the table to get to his normal seat.

"Hello again," Pyrrha said to the table with a small wave. "I see you already started eating healthier Ruby." The younger girl looked at her salad in disgust and stabbed at it with her fork before taking a bite.

"Mmm, delicious," she said with her mouthful, nodding as she tried her best not to gag at the bland taste. She watched Velvet pour some type of thick, white dressing on top of it. She put the rest of the liquid like substance on her salad and closed the lid, shaking it. Ruby followed her example and tried another bite after she finished shaking. 

Her expression turned sour at the taste. "Very good. I'll stop by your house later tonight and we can go on a run together," the redhead said as she placed a hand on her shoulder. "I have to go now, but I'll see you all later. Bye girls. Bye Jaune." The group waved to her as she walked away, minus Yang who decided she was brave enough to sniff what Ruby had to eat. She gagged at the smell and pulled away from the salad as fast as she could, getting side eyed by Ruby as she did.

"What's your deal with Pyrrha?" Ruby asked Jaune as they sat taking notes. Everyone was back in their normal seats since the project was over and Ruby was both sad and okay with that. While she missed the chance to sit next to Weiss, she knew she wouldn't be able to focus if she did.

She looked over at the boy next to her who seemed to have a blush on his face. "Nothing," he whispered. "We're just friends." 

Ruby looked at him, skeptical. "You guys sure do talk a lot for being 'just friends'," she said, making air quotes around the, just friends, part. 

He rolled his eyes at her and said, "Pay attention." Ruby scoffed at him as she turned back to the board.

"You totally like her," she said as she wrote down the notes on the board. He scoffed at her but said nothing. She smiled to herself, glad she figured out her friend's crush. She looked across the room to where the redhead was sitting. She was next to Ren, both working hard to take diligent notes. Just as she was going to look to the front to take notes herself, Ruby noticed Pyrrha glance behind her at the two of them. She smiled kindly at the girl and waved to her, getting a wave in return. She looked back to the front of the room and Ruby smiled. She leaned closer to Jaune and whispered, "I think she likes you too."

"Really?" he asked as his eyes snapped to where she was sitting. Ruby hummed as she followed his gaze. "How do you know?"

"I have a way of telling if a person had feelings for someone else," she said as the bell rang.

The two gathered their things and stood. "Just like how you knew the ice queen was into you," he said with a smirk.

Insulted, Ruby said, "Hey don't-"

"Call me that," Weiss said as she appeared at their table. Both Ruby and Jaune turned to her, the former blushing and the latter awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. He laughed uncomfortably as Weiss stared him down, driving in her point. "I'd hate to have to refer to you as vomit boy," she said as she grabbed Ruby's hand.

"It was one time," he insisted as they started to walk out of the room. Ruby laughed and squeezed Weiss's hand with a smile. 

Pyrrha walked up to Jaune, putting her hand on his back to try and cheer him up since he looked like a kicked puppy. Coco walked in front of the group of four and said, "Let's go bitches," with a snap as she walked out of the room.

"Language Miss Adel," Ozpin called after them as they left. Everyone laughed as Coco overdramatically put her hand over her mouth. She rolled her eyes as they all walked off to the gym besides Jaune who had to leave to get to his math class. 

"How are my baby gays doing?" the fashionista asked as they walked down the hallway. "You made quite the statement at lunch today ice queen. Poor Neptune looked like he had seen a ghost."

Weiss bristled at the nickname, bringing the hand hand that wasn't holding Ruby's up to pinch the bridge of her nose. Ruby ran her thumb across the girl's finger softly and got a smile and light blush out of her. "Serves him right for pestering me all these years. You could have seen the things he texted me this weekend. First it was, a date without me? Wait, you're not serious are you? Are you? Weiss? Snow angel? And then he thought I was messing with him and started saying stuff like, that was cute, trying to mess with me. You don't have to, you'll always have my attention. So what if I flirted with Milita. Or was it Melanie? He needs to learn how to keep his dick in his pants," she said, waving her hand as she spoke.

"Awe, our little try hard is reaching out into the world of pussy," Coco said with a laugh. "Safe to say he'll be disappointed with what he finds," Ruby heard her whisper.

"Coco, that isn't very appropriate," Pyrrha scolded as she joined in on the conversation. Ruby wasn't trying to stay out of it or jump in, she just didn't know what to say.

The senior lowered her shades to show the amazon her rolling her eyes. "Right, I forgot someone let mother dearest join us today," she said, laughing at her own joke. She looked over her shoulder at Ruby who shyly waved at her with a meek smile. "I don't think the literal baby gay minds," she said after a moment of assessment. "It's not like her sister isn't Yang Xiao Long, the schools up and coming lesbian firecracker. I'm sure she's heard all about this stuff, isn't that right Red?"

Ruby blushed, but nodded, remembering all the times she had been told the stories of Yang making out with girls at parties and walking in on her watching, dirty videos. She shuddered at the memories and said, "Please don't remind me." Coco smirked while Weiss gave her a look of concern.

The group was about to walk into the locker room when Coco stopped them. "You can go mother, this doesn't involve you," she said with a wave of her hand, allowing Pyrrha to walk by. 

"Can this wait?" Weiss asked with a roll of her eyes as she crossed her arms impatiently. "We're going to be late and have to run extra laps." 

"Red here can do it in her sleep, it's not that hard," Coco said, waving her hand again but not moving to let either of them pass. She placed a hand on each girl's shoulder, Ruby tilting her head in confusion and Weiss arching a brow. "It is my duty as an experienced gay to educate the baby gays. With this in mind, I want you to know that it will be tempting to stare at each other with sneaky glances as you change, but I tell you it is not worth it. Just get a room by yourself and do all your looking then. Understand? Red? Ice queen?" 

Both girls blushed and Ruby refused to look at Weiss. "Fuck off Adel," the white-haired girl said as she slapped the self claimed experienced gay's hand off her shoulder. "And don't call me either of those things again," she added as she walked into the locker room, a blush still present on her face. 

Coco turned her attention to Ruby and asked, "Do you understand?" Ruby nodded dumbly and a smile broke out on the fashionista's face. She put her hand between her shoulders and led them into the room saying, "Good girl. Although, Weiss probably already calls you that. She is that top right?" 

"What's a top?" Ruby asked, her question having never been answered. 

Coco sighed and placed her hand on her shoulder. "You have a lot to learn. Lucky for you I am an amazing teacher and your sister knows her stuff."

Ruby knocked on the door to Yang's room. It opened in front of her to reveal a smiling Blake. "Hey Ruby," she said with a smile as she moved to the side to let her enter. "Yang is downstairs if you need her."

Ruby shook her head as she opened the drawer of her sister's dresser. "No it's okay. I'm going running with Pyrrha in a few so I wanted to borrow her earbuds," she explained as she searched for them. Blake hummed and took a seat at Yang's desk. The dark haired girl had come over to study with Yang for the upcoming history test. Ruby frowned as she couldn't find them and opened another drawer in search of them. When she couldn't find them anywhere, she got on her hands and knees and looked under her sister's bed where they were lying all tangled on the floor.

She smiled as she found them and snatched them up. She sat on the bed as she started to untangle them. "Does this mean you're serious about trying out for the track team?" Blake asked, trying to make conversation.

Ruby nodded, sticking out her tongue as she concentrated. "Yeah, I figured it would be a good thing to do with my spare time. I might even get a scholarship if I'm good enough," she said, looking up to meet the girl's amber eyes.

"That's a smart way of looking at it," she said with a nod. "I'm sure you'll be great."

Ruby smiled at her and said, "Thanks Blake." The girl smiled back at her just as she managed to get the last of the tangles out of the earbuds. She stood to walk out of the room before stopping. She turned back to Blake who watched her with a soft but confused look. "Do you know what a top is? Coco said she thought Weiss was one, but she was asking for confirmation more than telling me."

Blake blushed at her question, looking a tad startled. "W-well, I don't think I'm the right person to tell you," she said with a small stutter.

Ruby frowned but nodded. "Do you think I should ask my dad then?"

"No!" Blake said as she shot up from her seat. She put her arm around Ruby's shoulders and guided her to the bed where the two sat down. "I can explain it to you, but um, just," she sighed and leaned close to Ruby as she whispered in her ear. 

Ruby's eyes went wide as the girl explained, a blush spreading on her face. Once Blake pulled away, she stood up and pointed at her. "That is filth," she declared, a hand placed over her racing heart.

Blake sighed and covered her face with her hand, a blush staining her cheeks. "This is why no one wanted to tell you what it meant," she said as she got up and sat back down at Yang's desk.

"What did I miss?" her sister asked as she walked into the room.

Ruby and Blake shared a look before saying, "Nothing," at the same time. Yang had shrugged and took a seat next to Blake as Ruby walked out of the room to get downstairs. She grabbed her shoes and went to find her dad to let him know she was leaving. She found him napping on the couch and decided to just text him that she would be out with Pyrrha rather than wake him up.

There was a knock on the door and she went to answer it. "Come in for a moment," she told Pyrrha as she sat down to put on her sneakers. She had changed into her favorite pair of shorts that she couldn't wear at school because of the stupid dress code that didn't allow anything shorter than mid thigh and a white tee shirt in preparation for the run. She looked up to see Pyrrha looking at the pictures they had hanging on the wall from their family vacations with a smile. "Ready," she told the other girl once she was finished tying her shoes.

They walked out the front door and Ruby locked it before they went anywhere. "I figured we can start on some stamina training for you," the redhead explained as they walked down her driveway. "I already know you can run fast, but I don't think you can keep that pace for long."

Ruby nodded, knowing there was truth to her statement. "Where will we be going?" she asked as he put one earbud in, her music lowly filling her ear.

"Just follow me at the same pace," Pyrrha told her with a smile. Ruby had shrugged and followed the taller girl as she started their run. By the time Ruby made it back to her house, she didn't know if she would ever be able to walk again. Pyrrha hadn't edited her route for her first time and made the girl run nearly six miles with her. Ruby had managed to wave to her as she walked into her house, shutting the door before falling to the floor. 

Yang had placed a bowl of water near her head with a laugh, getting hit in the shoulder by their dad who ended up laughing too. Ruby drank the water anyway, too tired to yell at her sister. "Dinner?" she asked after hydrating. She tried her best to get up, but felt too weak to do so and accepted her fate lying on the ground.

Her dad smiled as he helped her off the floor. "Pork chops," he said in the same dead voice she had asked in. Ruby rolled her eyes as she kicked off her shoes and stumbled her way to the table. She had eaten everything on her plate and was still hungry afterwards. Yang gave her a portion of her mash potatoes as she frowned, a small smile on her face as she did. Ruby had thank her vigorously before devouring them. 

That night, after her shower, she was ready for bed. The buzz of her phone was the one thing that prevented her from getting under the sheets. She opened up the message she got and saw it was from Weiss. She smiled as she read, 'Hey Ruby, I'm heading to bed soon and just wanted to tell you goodnight. I'm sorry about my friends behavior and about all the new attention that's been focused on you. I'll try my best to make sure no one bothers you. I hope you'll sleep well.' 

Her chest grew warm as she reread the message a few times before typing her reply. 'It's okay, I'll just have to get used to it if I'm going to be going out with you. Goodnight Weiss <3' She sent her text with a smile before plugging her phone in and finally crawling into her bed. Ruby had never had an easier time falling asleep as she did that night, a dream with snow angels and snowflakes coming alive in her head as she slept.


	8. Starting Out Sore

Ruby could not lift her arm up to turn off her alarm in the morning. Her legs felt like jello and she didn't have any energy to get up. Eventually Yang came into her room to glare at her after it had been going off for at least ten minutes. "Get up," her sister told her as she grabbed her arm and pulled her out of bed. Ruby fell to the ground with a thud and groaned.

"Everything hurts," she muttered as she got up with the help of her sister. 

"Yeah, yeah," Yang said with a roll of her eyes. "Stop being over dramatic." Ruby grumbled, but went to the bathroom to get ready anyway. She took her time walking between the rooms, not wanting to push herself on already delicate legs. Yang watched her from the doorway of her bedroom with a grin that aggravated Ruby.

"What?" she asked as she finally made it to the bathroom.

"Nothing, nothing. Just wondering if you'll be this sore after your first time with the ice queen." Ruby blushed bright red and slammed the door to put a barrier between her and her sister. Once she was finished in the bathroom, she made sure to peek out the door and look around to make sure Yang wasn't waiting to tease her some more. When she saw she wasn't there, she went to her room to go change. She spent a minute looking around for her red hoodie, confused as to where she put it until she remembered Weiss had it.

Pulling out her phone, she texted the cheerleader, 'Hey, if you haven't gotten to school yet, do you think you can bring my red hoodie? I don't have any other clothes to wear :,(' She made her way downstairs after sending the text, clutching onto the railing as she did to prevent herself from accidentally falling or tripping. Her phone buzzed once she made her way to the dining room table and she pulled it out of her back pocket as her dad placed a bowl of oatmeal and glass of water in front of her. She frowned when she saw it and asked, "What is this?"

"Breakfast," he told her as he sat down with his own bowl of the slop. "It will make you feel full longer, especially with all these extra calories you're burning." She looked at the food in disgust, Yang snickering at her as she ate her cereal. Ruby kicked her shin before trying a spoonful of the food. It didn't taste bad exactly so she decided to just suck it up and eat as much as her stomach could handle.

Her phone buzzed again in her hand and she remembered why she had it out. 'I highly doubt that. I just left for school so I can turn back and get it for you.' Ruby smiled at the message, loving how cute she was. She smiled even harder and started to blush when she looked at the picture Weiss had sent her. She was wearing Ruby's sweatshirt with her ruby earrings from the day before, smiling at the camera as she tugged on the strings that pulled the hood closed. 'Got it.'

Ruby felt her cheeks start to burn from smiling so much. Her heart was racing as she pulled up her keyboard, typing quickly, 'You look really beautiful,' and sending the text before she had enough time to regret her decision. She slammed her phone on the table and winced at the noise it made. Her dad arched an eyebrow at her and she smiled awkwardly as she got up from the table to put her dishes in the sink. 

"Ooo, her girlfriend probably sent her a dirty pic," Yang said as she grabbed Ruby's phone from across the table. She frowned as she saw her younger sister had locked her phone and Ruby stuck her tongue out at her as she walked back into the room and snatched it from her hands.

"She did not," Ruby said as she grabbed her shoes. Yang snickered at her as she went to put her dishes in the sink.

Their dad cleared his throat and Ruby looked at him as she got ready. "I didn't know you two were already dating," he said as he stood to get ready for his hug.

"You know us lesbians dad, we like to move fast," Yang said as she came back in the room.

Ruby rolled her eyes and scoffed and she hugged her dad and accepted his kiss on the head. "We're not dating technically," she said as she grabbed her backpack. "She never asked me out just on a date. I don't even think she's technically my girlfriend," Ruby said with a frown.

"Well you better hurry up and ask her before Neptune realizes she's 'technically' still single," Yang said, mocking her with the way she said technically. Ruby rolled her eyes as they said goodbye to their dad and left for school.

Ruby sluggishly walked through the halls to get to her locker. She felt like she needed at least two more hours of sleep to have recovered and hoped Coco had an iced coffee waiting for her in math. As she turned the corner and looked to her locker, she saw Neptune leaning against it, impatiently tapping his foot. Sun was there too but he was busy talking with Nora to notice the distressed state his friend was in. Too tired to consider hiding from him, Ruby marched up to her locker where he stood up straight once he saw her. "Rudy, we need to talk," he said as she opened her locker door.

"Ruby," she corrected, knowing the effort was fruitless. She reached down to grab her geometry and history textbooks, bumping her head on the shelf in her locker in the process.

"That's what I said," he insisted with a wave of his hand. Ruby rolled her eyes as she rubbed her forehead. "Anyway, I wanted to know why Weiss kissed you yesterday. Was it like, for getting a good grade on the bio project? Or because it's like a friend thing you guys do?"

Ruby stared at him incredulously. 'Okay, this is just sad now," she thought as Sun came up to her with a smile. He threw his arm around her shoulders and she had to bend her knees to keep herself from falling under his weight. "It was because we're going out," she muttered as she picked up her now even heavier bag.

"Isn't it so exciting?" Nora asked as she jumped on Ruby, wrapping her arms around her neck to hug her. With the new added weight, Ruby couldn't hold herself up anymore and fell flat on her butt, Nora falling on top of her and Sun tripping. He managed to steady himself before he fell and laughed at what had just happened. Ruby groaned, Nora's shoulder pressing against her neck that stopped her from breathing, her knee in her stomach knocking the wind out of her. 

It took all of Ruby's strength to push Nora off her as Neptune said, "You're not serious are you?" She nodded from her spot on the floor taking deep breaths to restore the air the redhead had prevented her from getting. "But you're just a nerd," he pointed out.

"Well she's my nerd now," the voice of a certain cheerleader said as she walked up to the group. "So keep your hands off her," she said as she helped Ruby off the floor, glaring at Nora as she did. Ruby blushed as Weiss held onto her hand even after she was standing on her feet.

"Well aren't you a jealous girlfriend," Nora said as she got to her feet by herself. A blush spread on the white-haired girls face as she scoffed at the softball player. 

"She doesn't need you dragging her down with all your weight. Quite literally," she said, glaring at the grinning redhead.

Nora shrugged as she leaned against Sun. "If you're trying to call me heavy, I'm not insulted. It's all in these thunder thighs. Besides, Ruby doesn't mind. Right Ruby?"

"Um," the young girl looked between Weiss and Nora and gulped. "I'm used to it," she said with a shrug. She tried to bring her hand up to the back of her neck to rub it, but found Weiss was still holding onto her. "Yang has done it for so long it's second nature. I just started stamina training with Pyrrha yesterday and my legs couldn't handle all the weight." She shut her locker and grabbed her bag off of the floor, ready to head to math. She finally looked at Neptune again and saw him staring at their conjoined hands with a difficult to read expression on his face. She let go of the cheerleader's hand as she walked off, head down so she wouldn't have to look at everyone around her.

"Ruby," Weiss called after her, grabbing onto her wrist. Ruby kept her eyes on the ground, but stopped and turned in the older girl's direction. A hand cupped her cheek and her face was lifted up. She stared into blue eyes with a light blush until a soft kiss was placed on her cheek. "We all need to get to class, but I'm a little cold. Is it okay if I keep your sweatshirt on for now?" Ruby nodded vigorously, Weiss giggling at her action. A second kiss was placed on her cheek and the white-haired girl dropped her hand from her face to her hand, giving it a squeezing before turning to Nora. "Let's get to history before we waste the whole period getting lectured about the importance of punctuality," Weiss said to her as they walked off.

Ruby brought her hand up to her cheek where Weiss had kissed her, childlike grin on her face as she did. Her heart was thumping happily in her chest and her insides felt all warm. An arm was placed delicately on her shoulders as Sun said, "Well aren't you two cute together." 

She smiled at him as they started to walk to class, Neptune pouting with crossed arms as he walked. "I know, it's not fair," he said when he finally looked up from the ground. He smiled softly at Ruby and held out his hand. "No hard feelings right?"

"No hard feelings," she said with a smile, taking his hand. Just as they walked into the classroom, she added, "But my name is Ruby. Not Rudy." 

"Ruby, got it," he said while doing awkward double finger guns. She smiled at him as they all made their way to the back. Ruby swore she saw a halo in place of Coco's beret when she pulled out an iced coffee from her bag with a smirk. 

"In conclusion-"

"Get rid of that," Penny told Ruby as she read to her the final draft of her essay. The younger girl rolled her eyes, but did what she said and crossed out the line. "I'm surprised Weiss let you slide with that. Her work tends to be better than that," the redhead commented, eyes drifting to the cheerleader in the front of the room. 

"She told me to put something else in instead, but I was really tired and not focused when she did so I didn't hear her. She was so close and warm and beautiful, ugh Penny, she's so pretty," Ruby said as she leaned her head on her palm. Weiss was still wearing Ruby's sweatshirt and managed to look elegant in it. Her legs were crossed under her desk, causing her skirt to rise slightly higher. Ruby couldn't see the exposed skin from where she sat, but she sure could imagine it. 

With a dreamy sigh, she picked up her paper again about to read again when Penny said, "She is attractive. You got lucky."

Ruby pouted and leaned back in her seat. "Are you saying I'm not pretty enough for her?" she asked, crossing her arms slowly. 

"Of course not. You are very pretty as well. Everyone is beautiful because there is no such thing as ugly. That is just a concept developed by businessmen who wanted to make a profit by convincing people there was a beauty standard that everyone had to live up to," Penny explained seriously. Ruby nodded at her words, slightly lost in the major turn in conversation. "But," Penny added. "That does not mean Weiss does not fit up to that standard in every way possible, going as far as to excel at being beautiful."

"Watch it. That's my girlfriend you're talking about," Ruby warned with a slight grin. Penny first looked scared, but smiled after she realized the younger girl was just joking. "Do you think bringing her to the indoor ice skating rink would be a good idea?" she asked after calling Weiss her girlfriend made her think of their next date she had promised to plan. "Blake mentioned she liked ice skating."

"Can you even ice skate?" Penny asked, turning her eyes away from the girl they had been talking about to look at Ruby.

She thought for a moment before shrugging. "I've never really tried it before. But it's okay, I can learn as I go," she said after the bell rang. Both girls put their belongings away before putting on their bags and walking to the door. Weiss and Blake were waiting for them in the hallway with smiles. The white-haired girl grabbed Ruby's hand and they started walking down the hall together. Ruby looked over her shoulder to see Penny and Blake talking to each other and smiled.

"What are you so happy about?" Weiss asked her as she saw the smile on her face. 

Ruby squeezed her hand as she turned to look at her. "I'm glad our friends get along. And that yours like me. I think. I hope they like me," she said as she suddenly thought about a hundred possible scenarios where the cheerleader's friends hated her.

A kiss was placed on her cheek and she immediately stopped worrying and started to blush instead. "They liked you, you dunce. You're a hard person to hate," Weiss told her with a smile as they walked into the lunchroom.

"I'm surprised Neptune doesn't hate me," she said after thinking back to the interaction she had with the boy during first period. "I would have thought he would after I kinda stole the girl he had been chasing since middle school. But he was just, cool with it."

The white-haired girl rolled her eyes before saying, "I'm pretty sure I stole you from everyone else. I asked you on a date first after all." Ruby shrugged causing her to smile which made her smile.

"Ah my favorite red and white duo," Coco said as they walked up to her and Velvet. "How are you doing on this fine afternoon?"

"For your information Adel, it's cloudy outside and probably going to rain later, which by most people's definition, is not a fine day," Weiss said as she crossed her arms, letting go of Ruby's hand much to her disappointment.

The fashionista smirked and pulled Velvet close to her side. "Good thing I have some hot buns to warm me up then." The cheerleader scoffed at her friend as she slapped Velvet's behind with no shame. "And it's a good thing you have a cute top warming you up. Red is a nice color on you."

The white-haired girl eyed the senior as she waited for something to happen. "I have a feeling you aren't talking about Ruby's sweatshirt," she said after a moment of both girls staring at the other.

"You tell me," Coco said with a grin. 

Weiss scoffed at her before grabbing Ruby's hand and saying, "Let's go."

As the two of them walked away, Ruby heard the following conversation go down between the senior couple.

"Play nice Coco."

"I am. I am also simply trying to figure out who the top is. Ruby is so submissive to the girl, she let's her drag her anywhere, but I have a hard time believing Weiss is in control with how much of a useless lesbian she is."

"Between us, I think the top is-"

"Would you like to sit with me today?" Weiss had asked her, preventing Ruby from hearing the last of their conversation. 

She picked up three trays and handed one to the white-haired girl as Velvet walked up to them. "Hmm, not yet if that's okay with you. I wouldn't want to leave my friends behind," she said while handing a tray to the senior who thanked her.

"That's perfectly fine," the cheerleader insisted as they walked forward in line. "Maybe we can get something to eat together after school then. I don't have practice since this week is an away game."

Ruby smiled at her before frowning as she watched Velvet pick up a salad. "I'll have to ask my dad. And Pyrrha," she said as she grabbed her own leaf meal. Weiss raised an eyebrow to her and she explained about her running with the tall girl to train.

"I can have you home before then," she told her when she picked up a salad herself. Ruby nodded and grabbed her hand as they all walked through the cafeteria to get to their tables. Weiss kissed her on the cheek before walking off to her own table.

"Boo," Yang shouted as she walked past the cheerleader. "Give her a real kiss next time." Ruby felt a blush rise on her face and could see one on Weiss's as she walked past her sister with a scoff. "Back with this bullshit?" she asked when she saw the salad Ruby had gotten.

She rolled her eyes as she opened it and said, "I am sorry I am trying to be healthier." She reached for a fork only to find out she had forgotten to take one again.

"Well I'm proud of you," Velvet told her as she handed her an extra fork.

"Thank you Velvet," Ruby said as she accepted the fork. She put some of the food in her mouth and her happy expression turned downcast. 

"Good luck with it," Yang said as she got up from the table.

Jaune, who had just walked by after saying bye to Pyrrha, asked, "Where are you going?"

"To find Blakey. Maybe she will have a better lunch than this loser," she said as she ruffled up Ruby's hair.

Ruby straightened it out with her fingers as Penny tossed Yang a granola bar. "Good luck with that," the redhead said, throwing her words back at her, but in a supportive way rather than insult. Yang winked at her and did finger guns as she walked off. Ruby rolled her eyes and gratefully took the granola bar Penny offered her, moaning at the taste of something other than plants as she bit into it. Everyone at the table laughed at her as she did.

"Ask her out."

"You ask her out."

"I already have a girlfriend."

"You said it yourself, neither of you technically asked the other yet."

"Just ask her. Oh my Oum this is torture," Ruby declared after having a furious whisper battle with Jaune. Ozpin had finished going over the notes in class and the students were given the rest of the period to catch up on any missing work they might have. For Ruby, that meant a free period of staring at Weiss and pestering Jaune about dating Pyrrha while he worked on his undone homework assignments. He had insisted that they were just friends and that he was happy with things staying that way, but Ruby knew better than to believe his obvious lie.

"You're the one doing it to yourself," he said as he got back to work. Ruby rolled her eyes and turned her head to look at Pyrrha. The girl got up with a broken pencil in need of sharpening and Ruby smiled as a plan came to mind. 

She grabbed her pencil and broke its tip. "Oops, I need to sharpen this," she said to the boy who was only half listening to her. He hummed as she got up and made her way to the redhead. She smiled at Weiss and Coco as she passed their table, heart beating fast as she saw the blush on the former's cheeks. Once she made her way to where the taller girl stood at the pencil sharpener, she said, "Hey Pyrrha."

The girl turned to her with a smile and said, "Hello Ruby. Is there something you need?"

Ruby shook her head as she leaned against the table and looked around the room before looking Pyrrha in the eye. "Do you know who's been talking about you a lot?" she asked, in hopes of steering the conversation in a direction she could work with.

"Cardin?" the taller girl asked earnestly. 

"Wha- no. It's Jaune, I was talking about Jaune," she said after a moment of confusion. 

"Oh," Pyrrha said, a blush forming on her face. "What has he been saying," she asked, trying not to seem obviously interested in the conversation as she sharpened her already sharp pencil.

Ruby smirked to herself as she found her plan being executed perfectly. "Oh you know, good things. He's really happy to be your friend, but..."

"But what?" Pyrrha asked, turning to look Ruby in the eye.

She shrugged and ran a hand through her hair as she looked around the room again. Her eye landed on Weiss as she said, "But I don't think he would mind having more, you know?" She turned back to the redhead to see her nodding. "Maybe he needs some encouragement though. He can get nervous at times." With a smile, she walked back to her desk, leaving the older girl to think about her words.

"You took a long time up there to sharpen a pencil you didn't even sharpen," Jaune commented as she sat back in her seat. Ruby shrugged, a smile still present on her face as she packed up her things.

"The bell's gonna ring soon," she told him as she stood and put her bag on. He quickly ran to Ozpin's desk to hand in his missing work as the bell rang. With a grin, she walked up to where Weiss waited for her with Coco and grabbed her hand. 

The three waited for Pyrrha and Jaune to join them before Coco led them out the door once again, saying, "Let's go bi-"

"Coco," Ozpin scolded from his desk.

"Best friends," the fashionista finished as she walked through the door. The group laughed at her as they made their way down the hallway. Ruby looked over her shoulder to see Jaune and Pyrrha talking to each other with equal amounts of red on their cheeks and smiled. Weiss squeezed her hand so she turned to look in her eyes, seeing her smile at her. She squeezed her hand back and placed a kiss on her temple, blushing as she did. "Cute, but we could do better," Coco said after she saw the kiss. Ruby rolled her eyes while Weiss scoffed.

Ruby held onto Weiss's hand as she drove her to... she didn't know where. "Where are we going again?" she asked her. After texting her dad, asking for permission and clearing it up with Pyrrha that she'd be home in time for their run, the two had left school together in Weiss's car. 

"My house," she told her, her eyes still on the road as she drove. Ruby nodded and then hummed when she realized Weiss couldn't see her head move. Equal parts of her were giddy and nervous, not sure what they would do at her house. Just the two of them. Together. Alone. "My father is busy at his office, my brother is probably out golfing with his prep school friends and my mother, she's probably enjoying a bottle of vodka alone in her room."

Ruby could hear the slight pain in the girl's voice and quickly squeezed her hand. "My uncle, he's an, let's just say he hasn't been sober one day since my mom died. They were really close and all I know is he turned to alcohol to make himself feel better. Sometimes it's really bad. Like, black out drunk asleep on our neighbors front porch bad," she said, chuckling in a stiff way.

"I'm sorry," Weiss said, letting go of her hand to put it on her thigh, her eyes meeting hers for a moment before turning back to the road.

Ruby shrugged, blushing slightly at the contact. "It's fine. He only gets that way around the anniversary of the day we lost her. We convince him to spend that time with us so we can watch out for him as a family. It's kinda become a tradition and gives us a reason to get together for things other than birthdays and holidays."

Weiss's thumb started to stroke back and forth on her lap and Ruby wished with all her might that she would have stayed in her shorts gym. "It seems like you've made a good thing out of a bad situation," the cheerleader said as she pulled up her long driveway. Ruby looked out the window in awe as she took in the sight of Weiss's house. She didn't see how, but somehow the large garage opened in front of them and Weiss parked the car before getting out. 

Ruby quickly followed her, looking around at the multiple expensive looking cars in the room as Weiss grabbed her hand and dragged her towards a door. She opened the door for the both of them and led her through a series of halls and rooms until they were in front of a large staircase. "Woah," Ruby said breathlessly as she noticed a huge chandelier that looked like it was made of real crystals hanging above their heads.

"Let's go," Weiss said as she started to pull her up the stairs. 

Ruby squeezed her hand with a smile, about to run up the steps when a voice called out, "Mistress Schnee, who do you have with you? I can prepare something for you both?" They both turned around and the younger girl saw a butler standing at the bottom of the stairs. 

"Klein," Weiss said with a smile. "This is Ruby, we go to school together and have been on a date recently."

He nodded his head with a smile as Ruby blushed. "I see. Well welcome to the Schnee household Ruby. Could I serve you anything?" he asked politely. 

Ruby shook her head with a smile. "No thank you sir." 

"How very respectful of you young lady," he said, Ruby practically feeling a smile radiate off of Weiss.

"We'll be in my room," the white-haired girl told the man, waiting for him to nod before walking off with Ruby to her room. Ruby blushed as she led her through a door that revealed a tidy and organized room that barely looked lived in. "I'm gonna change out of your sweatshirt real quick. Make yourself comfortable," Weiss told her as she walked into what looked like a closet or completely different room.

"Okay," Ruby said after the door closed. She looked around the room as she placed her bag down and took her shoes off as she walked over to Weiss's bed and laid down. 'So soft,' she thought as she ran her hand over the comforter. 

"You're really cute," she heard Weiss say, not having heard the door to the room she went in open. Ruby blushed as she sat up on the bed and Weiss sat next to her, lying back like she had been doing previously. Ruby leaned back like she had before and stared at the cheerleader as she looked up at the ceiling. 

"You're really beautiful," she whispered, causing the girl to look at her with a blush. They stared at each other, silver looking into blue as both leaned closer to the other.

"Can I kiss you?" Weiss asked her in a whisper, her hand coming up to cup her cheek. Ruby nodded delicately and closed her eyes, waiting to feel Weiss's lips on hers. She felt something soft brush against her lips, her heart pounding in her chest. A knock on the door caused both girls to separate from each other with intense blushes.

"Weiss are you in there?" a woman's voice asked through the door. 

Ruby and Weiss both sat up as the latter cleared her throat. "Y-yes, I am Winter. Co-come in," she stuttered out as she stood and smoothed out her skirt. The door opened and a woman in her twenties walked in with her hands clasped behind her back.

"How have you be-" Winter cut herself off as she noticed Ruby sitting on her sister's bed, a blushing mess. She glanced at her sister to see her blushing too, awkwardly playing with the end of her skirt. "Have I interrupted something?" she asked.

"No, no. Not at all," Weiss said as she waved her hands in front of herself. She held out her hand in front of Ruby and said, "This is Ruby, my um, we've been on a date recently. She um, she just came over so we could, spend time together." 

Ruby awkwardly waved at the woman with an equally awkward smile as she rubbed the back of her neck. "I see," she said as she looked over the younger girl. "If you would like me to leave, we can always catch up another time."

Standing up, Ruby rushed to her things and started to put her shoes on. "No, no. It's okay I have to get going anyway. I'll see you at school tomorrow Weiss," Ruby said as she grabbed her backpack and hoodie that was lying on Weiss's bed. 

Weiss frowned at her, but nodded. "Do you want me to give you a ride?" 

She shook her head as she opened the door and said, "No it's okay. Your house is what? Six, seven miles from mine? Pyrrha would be happy I took the initiative to get my run in early." 

"Are you sure you'll be okay? I don't want you to get hurt," Weiss said in concern as she grabbed her hand. "It will only take a few minutes, let me drive you."

Not wanting to interrupt Weiss's time with this woman, she placed a kiss on her cheek in hopes it would make her give in. "It's okay Weiss. I'll see you tomorrow." The cheerleader blushed at her and nodded. Ruby smiled at her, letting go of her hand with a quick squeeze. Just as she was about to walk out of the door, Weiss cupped her face and placed a quick kiss on her cheek. Ruby blushed bright red and backed up against the doorframe as she stumbled over her own feet.

"See you tomorrow," Weiss said with a smile, her face still red. Ruby waved to her and the woman before awkwardly making her escape from the house. She made it outside with no trouble and started the run to her house, slow and steady like Pyrrha had tried teaching her the other day, not wanting to burn herself out too early. 

By the time she got home, she was sweating and out of breath. She walked up to her door to see Pyrrha waiting there for her. "Seven and a half miles," she told the girl with an exhausted grin as she walked past her and opened the front door. The redhead looked at her in shock, not expecting to see her come behind her. "That's about how far it is between Weiss's house and mine. And that's how far I ran. I'll see you tomorrow," she told the older girl as she shut the door on her, too tired to think about anything other than getting in the shower.

Ruby was crawling into bed after her long day, wearing nothing but a pair of booty shorts and her red hoodie that smelled like heaven. Or vanilla. Like Weiss. The thought of the girl made her smile and blush as she thought back to the time in her room. She brought her fingers up to her lips as her other hand reached for her phone. Pulling up her messages, she texted the white-haired girl, 'I had fun with you today when we had our time together. I can't wait to see you tomorrow :) P.S. my sweatshirt smells like you and it's amazing. I hope you sleep well!<3' 

After her message was delivered, Ruby plugged in her phone and let herself drift off to sleep, imagining what it would have been like had she actually locked lips with a certain cheerleader.


	9. New Company

Ruby groaned as her alarm went off. She reached around her nightstand for her phone, pulling at the cable of her charger when she found it. It came flying at her and hit her head, making her groan even louder as the alarm still went off. She turned it off with a sigh, the quiet of her room threatening to lull her back to sleep. She laid in bed contemplating with herself how much time she could spend in bed and still get ready in time for school. When she stretched and found her body completely stiff, she decided to move in hopes of getting her muscles to not be so tight. 

'Right, I forgot to stretch before running yesterday,' she thought as she got out of bed. She yawned as she ran her hands down her calves, feeling how tense they were. Walking over to her closet, she got out a red flannel to put over the white tee shirt she had lying on the foot of her bed for some reason. She put on some jeans and grabbed her phone before walking out of the room. 

She checked her notifications as she waited for Yang to be done in the bathroom. A text from Weiss made her smile as she read it. 'Goodnight Ruby, I hope you get a good night's rest. My sister said she would love to get to meet you properly. She'd be willing to take us out to dinner tomorrow if you'd like.' 

'So that's who the lady was.' Yang opened the door to the bathroom and Ruby walked in, pulling up the keyboard on her phone as she did. 'Does this mean I didn't make a horrible first impression?' she asked in her message. After sending it, she went through her morning routine and made her way downstairs. "Can I get dinner with Weiss and her sister today?" she asked her dad as she sat down at the table.

"I don't see why not," he said as he placed a bowl of oatmeal and glass of water in front of her, sliding a pack of sugar to her with a wink as he took his seat.

"Thanks dad," she said with a smile as she tore open the packet to pour on her food, curious about how the taste would change. She mixed it around into the slop looking meal before lifting a bite to her mouth. She hummed at the much sweeter taste it had compared to the day before. Yang rolled her eyes at her and Ruby stuck her tongue out at her.

"If Ruby gets to go on a date with the ice queen and her sister, can I go over to Blake's to watch a movie?" her sister asked as she shoveled a spoonful of cereal into her mouth. 

Their dad thought as he munched on a slice of toast. "I suppose if her parents are okay with it, but I want you both back home by nine. I'll have a surprise waiting for you then," he said with a smirk.

Ruby and Yang shared a look before the former asked, "What's the surprise?" She and Yang got up to put their dishes in the sink, keeping their eyes on Tai as they waited for his answer. 

"It's a surprise," he said as he stood up. "That's all you need to know." He walked over to his youngest daughter and hugged her as she grumbled about wanting to know what the surprise was. A kiss on the head and second hug and kiss on the head later, both girls were out the door and on their way to school. 

"I bet he got a raise," Yang said as they got to the halfway mark between their house and the school. "I'd count a raise as a surprise."

Ruby shrugged at Yang's guess. "Maybe," she said, focusing on making sure her steps between each block of the sidewalk were even. "Do you think he'd get you that motorcycle you've been asking for if he did?" 

"Oh, I didn't even think of that. If he got a raise I'll ask him for it again. That way I'd be able to drive us to school every morning, instead of this walking thing," her sister said with a grin. Ruby rolled her eyes as they got closer to the school. 

"You'd kill us both," she insisted with a smirk. After watching Yang fail to get her drivers license twice, Ruby didn't have much faith in her sister's driving abilities. 

Yang huffed and threw hair that had flown into her face over her shoulder. "Okay, for your information, there was a guy up my ass for two out of the three times I was tested and apparently the wrong thing to do was flip him off as he passed. Well the first time it was a he. The second time it was an old lady, but it didn't matter. My driving instructor called me hot headed. Can you believe that?" she asked as they stepped into the school. 

"No, how dare he?" Ruby said sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.

"I know right!" her sister said as she threw her hands in the air. They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways to get to their lockers. Ruby felt lucky when she turned the corner and saw no one waiting for her. She grabbed her things and made her way to geometry, wanting to check her phone after having felt it buzz in the middle of her conversation with Yang. She walked into the room and made her way to her seat, accepting the iced coffee Coco provided to her as she sat down.

"Hey Red," the fashionista greeted as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Hi Coco," Ruby said with a smile as she pulled out her phone. Sipping on her coffee, she pulled up her messages and saw Weiss had texted her. Smiling around her straw, she opened it and read what she said. 

"Let me guess," Coco said as she saw the smile on the younger girl's face. Ruby looked up at her in confusion, turning her attention away from her phone. "Weiss." Ruby blushed but nodded, running a hand through her hair to get it out of her face.

"Her sister wants to get dinner with us tonight after we met yesterday and she told me Winter just wants to get to know me better," she explained as she typed her response. She told the white-haired girl that she'd love to go with a smile added to the end of her text.

"You guys are like, my second favorite couple," Sun told her as he leaned across his desk to prop his elbows up on Coco's. 

"Velvet and I are his first," the senior said as she tried pushing him off her desk. He fell but managed to catch himself with his hands before hitting the floor. 

Sitting up straight at his desk again, he said, "No. Blake and Yang are. They're literally perfect together. You guys are my third fav." Coco frowned at him and he shrugged. "You molest your girlfriend in public."

"She likes it," the older girl insisted as she crossed her arms. Ruby awkwardly laughed as she felt her phone buzz in her hands.

'Perfect. We can go to my house after school and she will drive us to the restaurant.' Ruby smiled at Weiss's text and put her phone away once she noticed Oobleck begin walking around to collect homework. She leaned down to get her work out of her bag and put it on the top corner of her desk only for it to be snatched up by him the second she did. 

"Oum he comes out of nowhere," Coco muttered as she clutched her chest. The poorly disguised giggles from Sun and Neptune earned them a glare they could feel on the other side of her shades. Ruby let herself smile and tried her best to keep from laughing. 

Ruby walked up to Goodwitch's desk to hand in her final essay draft. After rewriting it for the final time, she was glad to be done with it. She put it in the homework bin and turned to make her way back to her desk, smiling at Weiss and Blake as she did. The former blushed as she smiled back, the latter waving kindly at her when she passed. Ruby had taken the majority of the period to go over her work thoroughly before she decided to hand it in, wanting to get the best possible grade after having put so much work into her essay.

"What do you think we will be doing next?" Penny asked her as she sat down. She shrugged and stood up again, the bell ringing the second she got in her seat. 

"We might start a new unit," she guessed as she put her bag on. The two girls walked out of the room and were met by Weiss and Blake. Ruby grabbed the white-haired girl's hand with a smile as they started to walk to lunch. 

"I hope we will not have to write another essay," the redhead said. Ruby hummed in agreement, knowing she'd be happy if she never had to write another essay for Goodwtich ever again.

"I believe we're going into a short story unit for the rest of the marking period," Weiss said after thinking for a moment. 

The group nodded at what she said, Blake adding, "So the most we would probably have to do is write a short narrative. That doesn't count as an essay."

"It's still words," Ruby said with a pout. Weiss giggled at her and she blushed, bringing her free hand up to rub the back of her neck. 

"You're cute when you do that," she told her with a smile. 

Blake, who was standing behind them, smiled at how cute they were together. Penny, on the other hand, was confused. "She can actually be really annoying when she does that," she said as she walked past both girls to go to her locker before the cafeteria. "She complains about everything."

"Hey!" Ruby complained before realizing the truth to what she said. "Okay she might be a little right, but I'm not annoying."

"Of course not," Weiss told her with a smile as they walked into the lunchroom. The red and white pair made their way over to Coco and Velvet who were at the end of the lunch line rather than standing in front of the fashionistas normal table which was for some reason empty. Blake continued her walk down the hallway, still needing her lunch. "Where is everyone?" the cheerleader asked once they got to them.

Ruby accepted a tray from Velvet as Coco explained, "We have found that our worlds are now merged." 

Weiss glared at her as Velvet took over explaining. "Since Coco and I, Blake and Yang, and you two got together, we decided it would make more sense for us all to just sit together. Pyrrha and Jaune said they were okay with it and Penny is chill with everyone. It's gonna be a tight squeeze, but the tables are meant to seat four people on each bench," she said, counting on her fingers as she thought. "So that's eight seats per half of the table so sixteen seats in total. With the six couples and Penny that's only thirteen seats." 

The shorter senior smiled, proud she was able to figure everything out. "That's right bun," Coco told her as she kissed her temple. Ruby smiled at how cute they were, thinking they were even cuter as she saw the earnest way Velvet blushed and became embarrassed. 

"Hold on, six couples?" Weiss asked as they all moved forward in line. 

Coco nodded and put up a finger as she listed each couple on a finger. "Well there's Velvet and I. The bumbleby one, I've decided to make that their ship name after a conversation with Sun. Renora, which is obvious. Arkos, once either of them grow the balls to ask the other out. Sea monkeys because there is no way anyone can convince me there isn't an ounce of homosexual in Neptune so it's just a matter of time. And then I haven't decided which I like better, ice flower or whiterose."

Weiss said, "You're insane," at the same time Ruby said, "I like whiterose."

Coco smiled at them as Ruby rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly as Weiss stared at her in a way that said not you too. "Whiterose it is," she said as she reached for a random lunch, not caring what she picked. She ended up with a chicken sandwich and Ruby frowned as she picked up a salad. She was tempted to put it back and grab a sandwich herself, but a look at Weiss, seeing her smiling face as she chose to eat healthy, made her stick with the salad. "Whipped," Coco whispered in her ear as she walked past her. 

She scoffed at her as they made their way to the now fuller than normal table. She took her normal seat as did Velvet, Weiss and Coco taking seats next to their respective girls. "Ooo, new seats. I dig it," Yang said as she took her normal seat at the end of the table next to Ruby. She pushed her sister further down the bench and also up against Weiss as she made room for Blake to sit next to her. 

"Yang," the dark haired girl scolded as she took her seat. Penny, who had just walked up to the table, saw her seat was taken by Weiss and shrugged as she sat next to Velvet in Jaune's normal seat. He and Pyrrha walked up to the table and he frowned when he saw her in his seat, but took the seat next to her without complaining. The split in the table that divided it in half was what separated the taller girl from him as she was forced to sit on the other bench. Sun and Neptune came to the table next, the blue-haired boy taking a seat next to Weiss out of habit, but this time separated as he sat on a different bench. 

Nora and Ren showed up last, having stopped at their normal table first until they saw everyone together at Ruby's table. "Yay! More friends," Nora said as she took a seat next to Pyrrha. Ruby smiled at her and looked at Weiss who had rolled her eyes at the energetic redhead's statement. She grabbed her hand under the table as conversations began to happen all around them.

"Is she going to ask like, what are your intentions with my sister, type questions?" Ruby asked as she put away the books she didn't need in her locker. Weiss had met her in the halls after last period was over and she had gotten her things. 

The cheerleader shrugged as she said, "I'm not sure. My sister said she just wanted to get to know you better." Ruby nodded as she shut her locker and put her bag on. Weiss grabbed her hand and led her out of the school as they made their way to her car.

"Do you think she'll like me?" Ruby asked once they made it out of the school.

"Yes, I'm sure she will," the white-haired girl told her as they walked through the parking lot. Ruby nodded, but her thoughts were not put to ease. 

"But what if I do something stupid? Or I say something stupid? What if I don't know what to say and she thinks I'm stupid?" the younger girl rambled as they made it to Weiss's car, all her worries coming out. The older girl rolled her eyes as she leaned against the door of her car, tugging on Ruby's hand to make her stand in front of her. She put one hand on her shoulder and the other on her cheek causing Ruby to blush and bring her hand up to rub the back of her neck. 

Weiss swatted her hand away as she said, "While you can be a massive dunce sometimes, you're not stupid so stop acting that way. We are getting dinner with my sister. Focus on the food aspect of this. You can order whatever you want and I won't even tell Pyrrha on you," she whispered in the younger girl's ear as she leaned forward.

Ruby assumed she didn't have the reaction Weiss wanted when instead of becoming a blushing mess because of the proximity, became extremely excited. "Like chicken tenders?" she asked with a large smile. 

The white-haired girl arched an eyebrow at her before she shook her head with a small laugh. "No, not chicken tenders," she said with a smile as she pushed Ruby off of her to get into the car. She frowned and went around the car to sit in the passenger's seat. "Winter is going to take us to a more high class restaurant than the one in the arcade so I doubt they'll serve them. I meant more like steak, salmon, pasta-"

"Oo, can I get a burger?" Ruby asked, realizing she hadn't had one in such a long time. 

Weiss sighed as she started the car. "Yes Ruby, you can get a burger," she said with a small smile as she pulled out of the school parking lot. Once they were on the way to her house, Ruby noticed the older girl holding out her hand so she grabbed it with a smile. As they stopped at a stop sign, the white-haired girl asked, "Do you have any homework you need to work on before we leave?"

"No," Ruby said, shaking her head. "I finished everything during my study. I just have to let Pyrrha know I can't make our run today, not that I'm complaining about it."

As she got her phone out of her back pocket, Weiss asked, "Pyrrha didn't tell you?" Ruby shook her head, saying no after she realized the older girl wasn't looking at her. "Well she doesn't run on Wednesdays. She says it's her break day."

"Oh thank Oum," Ruby said, taking a breath of relief. "I was so sore yesterday and today I was stiff when I woke up because I didn't stretch when I left your house. My legs were so tight this morning, I thought they would snap." She rubbed her hand over her calves again. They were much less stiff than they were in the morning. Weiss hummed in her seat and when Ruby looked at her she could see a slight blush on her face. 

"Sometimes that happens to girls on the team if they don't stretch before practice. The best way to take care of it is by resting, massaging, or by applying heat or cold to the area, though heat works best," the cheerleader said as she parked the car. Ruby blushed at the idea of Weiss giving her a massage and got out of the car so the other girl couldn't see the blush on her cheeks. 

Following Weiss through her house, she said, "I guess I can put a washcloth in warm water and leave it on my legs for a while." The white-haired girl nodded from in front of her and brought her up to her room.

"Whitley is here today, so you might want to keep your voice down so he doesn't bother us until Winter comes," she told her softly as they walked past a bunch of doors. Ruby just nodded and grabbed her hand for no other reason than wanting to hold her hand. Weiss smiled at her and opened the door to her room, ushering her inside. 

"How long will it be until your sister gets here?" Ruby asked as she looked at her shoes.

The older girl followed her gaze as she said, "Not for a few hours. She's picking us up at six thirty. You can watch something while I finish some history if you'd like." Ruby nodded as she took off her shoes, getting onto Weiss's bed once they were off. She accepted the remote the girl handed to her and turned on the huge flat screen tv that was across from the cheerleaders bed. Leaning back onto a few pillows, Ruby switched between a few channels before seeing Beauty and the Beowolf playing and left it on. 

Halfway through the movie, Weiss finished her work and had crawled next to Ruby. Too invested in the movie to think about her actions, Ruby put her arm over the older girl's shoulder and pulled her close to her. If she had been aware of her actions, she would have been as red as Weiss was. When it got to the part in the movie where the bad guy decided he was going to kill the beowolf, Ruby said, "I hate that guy so much. He doesn't deserve B-" She cut herself off once she turned to look at Weiss and saw how close they were.

She blushed and immediately looked back at the screen, too embarrassed to look back at the white-haired girl. An arm wrapped around her torso and a head was laid on her shoulder. "You're right. He deserves to fall off a roof or something," she heard Weiss say, just knowing she was rolling her eyes.

"Hey, spoilers," she said in a slightly offended tone as she leaned her head against hers. 

The older girl scoffed at her, making Ruby smile and laugh slightly. "Right, like I'm supposed to believe this is the first time you've watched this," she said as she pressed herself closer to the younger girl. 

"But if it was, you would have just spoiled it for me which is a no no," she said as she closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth Weiss was radiating. She laughed at her and Ruby smiled, the sound making her happy. She kissed her head and felt her heart start racing, only to be calmed by the comforting scent of Weiss's shampoo. 

"Whatever you did, do it again," the girl told her. Ruby blushed and kissed her head again. "Your heart is beating so fast," Weiss whispered.

"Well duh," Ruby said as she felt her blush intensify. "I have the world's prettiest girl in my arms, holding me as we watch a children's movie together. How could it not beat fast? This is literally a dream of mine."

Weiss removed her head from her chest to look her in her eyes. "Is it really?" she asked as blue locked onto silver. Ruby felt the need to turn away from her to save herself from being embarrassed, but didn't.

She nodded slowly before saying, "I've always wanted to do these types of things with you. I, I've had a crush on you since middle school Weiss. This is all like a dream to me. Being able to hug you and hold your hand and just talk to you, it all means so much to me." Arms were wrapped around her neck out of nowhere. Ruby sat up as the older girl climbed into her lap as she hugged her. She blushed before wrapping her arms around Weiss's waist and pulling her close. She laid her head on her shoulder as she felt the other girl do the same. 

"You're so sweet Ruby. I'm so lucky to have you here with me," Weiss whispered as she held onto her. Ruby smiled as she pulled back, the white-haired girl copying her actions. She left one hand on her waist as the other rubbed the back of the neck as looked up into the girl's eyes. 

As they stared at each other, Ruby blushed and said, "I, um, I w-wanted to know if you, uh, if you wanted to go on a date with me." She watched the older girl roll her eyes, about to say something before she added, "B-but, if y-you do, you have to be m-my girlfriend." Ruby knew her heart was beating out of her chest. She didn't know where she got the courage to ask her, but all she wanted in that moment was to be able to call Weiss hers.

She watched as the girl on top of her looked surprised at her asking before blushing and averting eye contact. "Is this your doltish way of asking me out?" she asked, a smile tugging at her lips. Ruby nodded and laughed slightly, focused entirely on Weiss. Her eyes widened before they shut tight as the white-haired girl kissed her. Her heart hammered in her chest as she grabbed onto her waist with both hands and savored the feeling of her lips pressed against her own. When Weiss finally pulled back, Ruby was breathless, feeling the same way she would if she had sprinted a mile. She leaned her forehead against the other girl's, her eyes still closed. "Well then, I'd love to go on a date with you. As your girlfriend. With you as mine."

Ruby felt herself smile so hard, she thought her cheeks would split open. She hugged Weiss again, burying her face into her neck in hopes of hiding her ever growing blush. "Yay," she whispered, getting a laugh out of the older girl. She pulled back so she could stare at her girlfriend's face, smiling as she did.

"Don't look at me like that," Weiss said with a blush as she pushed at Ruby's shoulders. Ruby stared at her anyway. When she finally looked back at her, the white-haired girl rolled her eyes before asking, "What will we do on our da-" A knock on the door interrupted her. 

"I know I'm early, but I thought-" Winter said as she walked into the room. Ruby felt herself go rigid under Weiss as she blushed even brighter than a rose. She saw the cheerleader in a similar state as her, but instead of freezing up like she did, Weiss got off of her to sit at the bottom of her bed. She cleared her throat as Ruby rubbed the back of her neck and stared intently at the bed covers, okay with not looking up again for a while. "My apologies, it seems I have interrupted you both again. I will be waiting in my car," Winter said awkwardly as she backed out of her sister's room.

Once the door closed, Ruby buried her face in her hands. "Let's just go," Weiss had told her as she grabbed her hand and pulled her off the bed.

Ruby drummed her fingers awkwardly on her leg under the table. After an uncomfortable car ride with Weiss and her sister to the restaurant, she was overly nervous. She tried her best not to look at the white-haired woman as she stared at her. Eventually, Weiss grabbed her hand to stop her from fidgeting and she sent her a small apologetic look. "So," Winter's voice caused her to tense up. "Ruby, your name was?" Ruby nodded, staring at the table as she was too afraid to look at the woman. 

"Ruby Rose," she said timidly after it was quiet for a moment. "I um, go to school with Weiss." She internally groaned as she realized how stupid she sounded. A small chuckle caused her to finally lift her head.

"I know. Weiss told me all about you," Winter said with a smile as she took a sip of wine. Ruby looked at the white-haired girl and saw her blush. "It's nice knowing she has someone she's close to other than that Adel character."

Smiling, Ruby said, "Oh yeah, Coco is really nice and all, but sometimes she can be inappropriate like Yang, but I guess I'm used to it because of her. Yang has our dad's sense of humor so everything is always dirty jokes and puns with her. I'm honestly surprised she hasn't corrupted me yet, but I don't get half the stuff she says anyway." As Ruby rambled, she missed the smile Winter sent to Weiss who was watching her with a dumb grin as she talked. 

Their meals were delivered to them so Ruby stopped talking until Winter said, "Well go on. Tell me more."

"Your sister is really cool," Ruby whispered to Weiss as they sat in the back seat of Winter's car together. After getting to know each other better during dinner, the woman had offered to drive Ruby back home. Her girlfriend rolled her eyes at her with a smile and squeezed her hand. They stopped in front of her house, her dad's car in the driveway preventing them from pulling in. "Thank you for driving me Winter," Ruby said as she grabbed her bag from off the floor. 

The older Schnee turning around in the car to smile at her. "Of course. It was wonderful getting to know you Ruby. I hope to see more of you around the house when I'm here," Winter said as the youngest girl got out of the car.

Ruby smiled at her and nodded before turning to Weiss and saying, "I'll see you at school tomorrow." 

The white-haired girl leaned out the door and gave her a kiss on the cheek before saying, "I'll see you tomorrow," with a smile. She closed the door for her and Ruby walked to her house, confused when the door opened and something came running at her. She got knocked to the ground and groaned as she landed on its hard surface. A tongue licking her face caused her to open her eyes.

"Zwei!" she exclaimed as she picked up her dog in a hug. "Oh my Oum, I've missed you so much, but I thought you were with Unc-" Ruby cut herself off as she looked up at the door to see her uncle leaning against it with a smile. 

"Nice to see you kiddo," he said as she rushed up to him, jumping into his arms as she hugged him. He spun her around a few times, Zwei barking at their feet as he did. 

Once she was on the ground again, Ruby said, "I can't believe you're back. Oh my Oum, this is so exciting! Did you miss me? Did you? Did ya?" 

"Nope," he told her with a grin as he ruffled her hair. She laughed at him as they walked into the house, fixing her hair as they did. "Thanks again for letting me borrow Zwei for my mission Tai," her Uncle Qrow thanked her dad as they walked into the living room. Ruby smiled as she rushed up to Yang who was sitting next to their dad on the couch. Everyone looked like they were playing a card game, so she picked up the ones that she assumed her uncle put down to greet her. "Think I can win with this crap?" he asked her as he took a seat next to her.

She giggled at him as he took them from her hands, shrugging as she did. Lying on the couch, she rested her head on Yang's lap and put her legs on her uncle's. She peered up at her sister's cards as she started to run her fingers through her hair. "How was your date with the ice queen and her sister?" Yang asked after placing a card down. 

"It wasn't a date," she insisted. "Her sister just got us dinner."

"That's right, you got yourself a little girlfriend," Qrow said as he leaned into the couch. "How's that going for you?" Ruby smiled excitedly before she told him all about Weiss.

**Author's Note:**

> I figured I'd do something from Ruby's point of view for once. Thank my bio teacher for assigning me the project that inspired this one.
> 
> Also my actual history teacher is exactly like Professor Port, minus the mustache.


End file.
